Exhibition: Stephen Bulger Gallery - Vivian Maier - Photographs of Children

Exhibition Dates: July 17 – September 13, 2014
Reception: Thursday, July 17, 5-9pm

TORONTO, July 11, 2014 /CNW/ - Stephen Bulger Gallery is proud to present our second exhibition of photographs by Vivian Maier (1926 - 2009). This exhibition features compelling portraits of childhood, offering insight into the mysterious life of this elusive photographer. Maier worked most of her adult life as a nanny. She spent countless hours in the company of children, capturing the fleeting moments of their young lives. A selection of vintage prints, as well as posthumous exhibition prints will be displayed.

Vivian Maier was born in New York City and lived many years in the Champsaur Valley in France, where several generations of her family had lived. As a young woman she became enamoured with photography and would often shoot a full roll of film or more in a day, a habit that she continued throughout her life. In the early 1950s she returned to New York and later moved to the North Shore of Chicago where she lived until her death in 2009.

Maier's storage lockers held the accumulation of her passion: negatives, prints, camera equipment and undeveloped film would eventually amount to about 120,000 unique images. In 2007, Maier could no longer afford storage, and her belongings began to be sold at auction. Several bidders purchased parts of the collection and Chicago art collector Jeffrey Goldstein acquired his portion from two of the original buyers. Goldstein's collection of about 20,000 negatives, prints, slides and films, is the source of our exhibition.

Over the past five years, the caretakers of her collection have had the joy of sharing her work with the world in exhibitions throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. The public reaction to her work is unprecedented and her reputation as a photographer continues to grow as her work is exhibited and appreciated.

To date, four books of Maier's work have been published. Ms. Maier has also been the subject of two documentary films: The Vivian Maier Mystery, an award-winning film by the BBC and Finding Vivian Maier, a film in current release that chronicles her life as well as the role that Chicago historian, John Maloof played in bringing her work to the public's attention.

SOURCE: Stephen Bulger Gallery

Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen Street West Toronto Canada, 416.504.0575, [email protected]