And again about the legendary Vivien Mayer
Vivien Dorothy Mayer was an American amateur street photographer. She was born in New York, but grew up in France. After returning to the USA, she worked as a nanny in Chicago for about 40 years. Over the years, she has taken about 100,000 photographs, mostly of people and places in Chicago, although she has traveled frequently. Her photographs remained unknown until they were found by local historian and collector John Maloof in 2007. After Mayer's death, her work attracted the attention of critics and the public. We have already published her photos, but this time we decided to dedicate a more thorough issue to her.
Vivien Mayer's photographs were lost among the objects she had collected all her life.
But in the end, they forever changed the life of the person who found them, and the world of street photography.
Collecting Vivien Mayer's life piece by piece, one can recall Churchill's quote about the country of tsars and commissars, which lies in the east. Vivien is a person who combines European stereotypes about an independent woman who was born in New York.
Vivien was introverted, but at the same time she was ready to reveal her worldview to anyone who was willing to listen.
Vivien collected various things, books, newspaper clippings, home videos, as well as political stories.
The story of this nanny, who gave her photos to the world and accidentally captured some of the most interesting wonders and features of urban life in the USA in the second half of the twentieth century, seems incredible.
Vivien traveled a lot between Europe and the USA, but in 1951 she finally settled down in New York.
Having started doing photography just a couple of years before, she took to the streets of the Big Apple to sharpen her skills.
By 1956, Vivien had left the East Coast and moved to Chicago, where she spent most of her life as a nanny.
In her spare time Vivien took pictures.
Vivien left behind more than 100,000 negatives.
She also made and collected documentaries and audio recordings.
Vivien Mayer's free spirit and proud soul – in the end, she became poor, and three children, whom she once cared for, saved her from starvation.
They remembered Mayer as a second mother, so they paid for her apartment and took care of her in her old age.
One of Vivien's drawers with her personal belongings was put up for auction to pay off debts.
In this drawer were the negatives that Mayer had been collecting all her life.
All these pictures "came out" when in 2007 her work was discovered by the auction house of Chicago.
Her pictures forever changed the life of the man who found them – John Maloof.
Now Vivien's photos are archived. A catalog is being created for future generations.
Now Vivien's pictures are part of the revival of interest in street photography.