Art News

Celebrating the Genius of an Undiscovered Photographer: Vivian Maier

CHICAGO (AP).- She scoured the streets day and night, venturing into strange and sometimes dicey neighborhoods. She wore a hat, sturdy shoes and a camera, always a camera, around her neck and at the ready. A woman in a white fur stole and evening dress drifting in the darkness toward a ’56 two-tone Chevy. Click. A curious little boy, undaunted by his size, using an empty window frame as a ladder so he can peek into a giant box. Click. A huddled coil of a man defeated by life, his clothes soiled and tattered, his head hanging in despair. Click. Fractions of seconds, captured by Vivian Maier a half century ago or more — fleeting moments of life on the streets at a time when men wore fedoras and dragged on Lucky Strikes, when women favored babushkas, when families piled in Studebakers and DeSotos for