The babysitter who portrayed New York City

Vivian Maier was the babysitter of the wealthy families of New York City in the 50s, but she had been born in the Bronx and knew the daily life of the people in humble neighborhoods, hobos, drunks and the girls who aspired to achieve the American Dream, whichever it was; and she somehow wanted to keep their images, the reality of everyday things.

Hiding the negatives, in her spare time, camera in hand, Maier took more than 100.000 photographs of the people she crossed in the street, the shop windows of the luxury and the misery, the crying children, and their neighbors. This archive was found by accident in 2007 by John Maloof, a fanatic of cheap auctions and second-hand dealers who bought it and resold it, and in that process the images caught the eye of the photography department of the New York Times.

History wanted that Maloof, upon the discovery of Maier's obituary, contacted the people who used to be their bosses and the families she lived with, and the documentary 'Discovering Vivian Maier' came to light. Nobody ever knew or even suspected the talent of the babysitter. The myth could start from there. Her work saw the light in 2010 and has become a milestone in street photography all over the world.

Is the text for the exhibition at Fundacion Canal reads, 'this exhibition traces, for the first time in Madrid, a comprehensive itinerary through Vivian Maier's work, tackling in a thematic way her main interests and showing the quality of her gaze and the subtlety with which she incorporated the visual language of her times.'

Maier's imagery, full of reflections, cut/up, out of frame images and fragments of scenes now fills the most prestigious galleries of the world, and hundreds of papers and catalogues. Now, her unique point of view arrives to Fundación Canal.

Source: http://www.art-madrid.com