"The woman is created for a man, not a man for a woman" - such a postulate ...
Name Vivian Mayer (Vivian Maier) It is not important to those who are interested in the history of American photo art. The history of the governess, which all his life was fond of street photography, kept films, but did not print her works, acquired worldwide fame after the archive of her photographic materials was redeemed from the auction in Chicago for 400 dollars in the real estate agent John Maluf.
With her life, no her work was even published.
In 2009, the Real Estate Agent John Liafort bought several boxes from the storage warehouse owned by unknown to whom. In these boxes, he found about 100,000 negatives and unsecured films. When he began to scan them, he caught his breath.
The negatives began to turn into magnificent pictures that were removed in the 60-70s. These photos belonged to Vivian Mayer. The next day, John received more than 200 sentences to replace the film about her and her life.
Vivian photographed all his life, but did not show her work to anyone. Plicing 200 films per year, she showed them in their own room, turning it into a photo laboratory.
The question of our own creativity and art for women is too often starting from one and basic: "How is it at all possible - to be a woman and at the same time being an artist?" Or - in a more direct version: "How to survive if you are a woman and want to seriously engage in art? How to find this place for this? Money? And especially time? " Despite the fact that the information about the life of Vivian Mayer is not enough, even on this information it can be seen how conscious and independent their personal strategies were.
Genre Mayer, her tongue - street photography, fixing everyday life. It creates a plot as it were from nothing - from everyday scenes, which usually remain invisible and never seem worthy of special attention. Children playing on the beach. The drinker, whom they lend under his arms.
Planted girl. Dump boxes. Quarrel with police. The conversation of older women. Persons of random passers-by. She is interested in the details: hands, feet of people, shoes, the texture of the burned armchair, a sign of eatery, poster, a fragment of a dress or hairstyles. Where is more commonplace? As in conversation on reservations and intonation, you can learn more about a person than according to the words, the Mayer records the details as reservations, unintended and unconscious, and therefore the most accurate and genuine evidence of reality.
The microstica formed by the frame acquires the scale of the event. Here the Mayer shoots how children go from school: well, what's the interesting thing that would seem? But in three minutes we have time to see a small individual gesture in each passing by a child, to watch how they react to the camera, consider clothes and hairstyles, learn themselves or their children and acquaintances in the children, to be amazed. And so in every frame. Therefore, looking at about 30 photos and several films, you can clearly present the accurate psychological portrait of Chicago and New York 1960-1970.
She never earned his passion, moreover, the circle of her acquaintances never knew about this passion to the photo. And only after death, by chance, these frames became part of the story.
She lived most of his life in Chicago and worked as a governess in their secured families. In his spare time, Vivian wandered through the streets of his city with a camera. The photos taken very well give the culture of American life for the middle of the last century.
She wore men's pants, men's shoes and almost always a broad-breasted hat. Remembering what she was, her former pupils described their nanny: "She was a socialist, feminist, a film critic and from the breed of people, that they always speak the truth in the face whatever it was."
Another characteristic feature of the pictures Mayer is attention to vulnerability and intimacy. Women, children, old men or elderly people, African Americans, poor people, homeless people, animals, hard workers appear in the frame most often appear. Lovers vulnerable in their sincerity and inability to hide the proximity between them. People on the beach vulnerable in their bodily awkwardness and nude. She often chooses an alert from his back or side, removes sleeping people. If this is a plot for the film, it is interested in it, for example, an accident, consequences of a tornado or demolition of the building. At the same time, she herself, her authorship remain invisible, we do not feel the presence of her opinions, evaluation or comment. Meyer simply observes, so the snapshot balances between documentary and artistic fields, being a report and a portrait of everyday life.
The history of the life of the photographer riddles surprises and conquers, forcing it to think, is it important to look for recognition of your works? Perhaps this art does not need external estimates, perhaps, all living things should be created without the desire to please and stay in history.
Today, experts put the work of Vivian Mayer in one row with famous street photographers of the 20th century. For a long time, creativity belonged only to her, moreover, no one could say whether Vivian managed to learn about his success and recognition to death.
It is not known whether Vivian Mayer was familiar with modern feminist art criticism; It is possible that yes. In any case, she defined itself as a feminist and socialist (according to John Maluf's testimony, the early pupils Meyer told him about it. - Red.) And since the end of the 50s, it was used that in the 70s will be called "feminist optics" (and now I do not mean the camera Rolleiflex). Sensitivity to vulnerability, social reality, the desire for anonymity, attention to the details and private "small" problems, conscious refusal to be included in the mainstream, the desire to persevere and deeply develop its own theme - these strategies Researcher Lucy Lippard defined as feminist realism, whose development peak came to 70th.
Her street sketches compare with the works of Great Henri Cartier Bresson, and the compositional solutions that she used are considered to be close Andre Kertesz. She also attributes friendship with the photographers of Lisett Model (Jeanne Bertrand), but Jeanne Bertrand (Jeanne Bertrand), but for certain on Vivien Meyer is not known almost nothing - she managed to bring the secret about his love for the photo throughout his life.
For almost 40 years, Vivien Meyer worked for a nanny in Chicago. During this time, she managed to accumulate more than 2,000 films, 3,000 photographs and 100,000 negatives, which no one suspected about with her life. Photos Vivien Mayer remained unknown, and the films were not manifested and not printed, before they were made public in 2007 at bidding in the Chicago auction house. With the hammer due to non-payment, her archival boxes were leaving, full of negatives, which soon produced a real furyor.
These are canonical images of the architecture and street life of Chicago and New York. At the beginning of the 50s, Vivienus decides to seriously engage in photography and changes its Kodak Brownie to an expensive Rolleiflex and starts shooting at the middle format. She rarely made more than one frame of each scene and, mostly, they were occupied by children, women, elderly and poor people. In its photos there are also striking self-portraits made during her travels to Egypt, Bangkok, Italy, American West and a dozen of other cities around the world.
Obviously lonely, led by his personal motives, Vivien Meier was a born photographer, and in his extraordinary photos managed to capture the very essence of America. Meyer was childless, but for many years worked for a nanny, which, apparently, allowed her to not think about such needs, like food, clothes, shelter and devote all his time photos and documenting the complex beauty of life.
Over the past two years, 11 personal photographs of Vivien Mayer in the USA and Europe were opened. In 2011, the first monographic book published by Powerhouse publishing house, Vivien Mayer: Street photographer (Vivian Maier: Street Photographer), in 2012 - Vivienmaier: Outofshadows).
As for mysterious history with photo archive Vivian Mayer, John Maluf really bought him. Personal things in the life of Vivian were in the Chicago storage chamber, after her death, the cell stopped paying and everything that belonged to the photochomman, went out of the hammer, was redeemed for a scentual. When John Maluf showed films, it turned out that the real encyclopedia of the American life of the 20th century came to his hands. In addition to hundreds of captured films, there were cassette audio recordings in the archive, which Vivian led with passersby, and cut out of old newspapers.
John Malufu managed to find the families with whom Vivian lived, her former pupils handed him the remaining personal items of the photo shops and the very camera that she enjoyed. John Maluf posted pictures on the Internet, soon many of the world galleries made a desire to hold exhibitions of extraordinary work. Presentation of the collection of pictures Vivian Mayer has passed in one of the exhibition halls in Chicago. Now John is preparing for publication a book with photo filstrations about the fate of anyone unknown in life, but popular after the death of the artist.
Poor, with a foreign accent, Mayer worked for a nanny in a number of Chicago families in 1950-70. One of the immutable requirements that she presented to his employers was the presence of a reliable castle on the door of her bedroom. Only after the death of Vivian Mayer, it was discovered that this highly closed and closed woman was a great street photographer on a par with Helen Levitt and Harry Vinogrand. Observing photography and shot a lot, Vivian Mayer never showed his pictures to anyone, and after her death, thousands of them remained unmanifested.
Vivian Mayer / Vivian Maier. September 10, 1955, Angeim, California. From the book "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", photos of Vivian Mayer Ed. J. Malufa. POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing
Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits
Last week I visited the American Premiere of the film "Opening of Vivian Mayer", held within the framework of the festival. The film was declared as a "highlight" of the festival, whose program included magnificent documentary paintings. The film, at the same time disturbing and delightful, is an attempt to open the curtain of the mystery over life Mayer and creates a convincing, with a shade of bitterness, a portrait of an amazingly difficult woman. According to Charlie Siskel (Charlie Siskel), who created the film with John Malouf (John Maloof), "It would be a magnificent story, even if her photos were simply not bad." And the fact that her photos were brilliant, becomes "cherry on the cake."
Chicago. From the book "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", photos of Vivian Mayer Ed. J. Malufa. POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing
Of course, the main question that is deeply investigated in the film is why Vivian Mayer never sought to find his viewer. John Malofa, a young man who "opened" Vivian, buying a box with unknown negatives on one of the auctions, literally pursues this issue. He wanted and asks people who have the Mayer worked, children whom she once brought up, he consults with recognized photographers about her photos.
Pop-up details are amazing and sometimes contradictory. For some, she was a real Merie Poppins, but for someone - a rude and unemployed worker. Mayer was cautious to such an extent with men, which could be assumed that she satisfied herself. Often, she refused to call her name and family of classes to people, positioning themselves as a "mysterious woman" or "spy".
Of all the conversations and research, one thing is clear: Mayer has become a nanny to feed his photographic obsession. Unlike the seamstress, which she was before, the work of Nanny allowed her to shoot most photos on the street. Her grown wards remember how nanny pulled them out of familiar safe surroundings in a suspicious and frightening Chicago, where he threw on the mercy of fate and rushed away - photograph.
Vivian Mayer / Vivian Maier. New York, 1953 from the book "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", photos of Vivian Mayer Ed. J. Malufa. POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing
Vivian Mayer / Vivian Maier. Chicago, 1957 from the book "Vivian Mayer: Street photographer." POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing House, 2011
"The audience will definitely like the film," the director Michael Moore shared his opinion at the question of the response session with the directories of the picture Siskel and Maluf, arranged after the show. According to Mura, a successful picture made that "the world is full of people who write, draw and take pictures and know that their voice will never be heard. And at the same time ... no one wants to be forgotten. "
The performance of Michael Moura would not be worth the exhausted eggs without a couple of high-nesting Tirara, which he was happy and offered to the public. He threw one verbal grenade into secured classes, touched on Kumovyvia ("If you are a simple worker and you have no rich uncle, you will not be easy to get out of people"), and another aimed at the American habit of treating psychic diseases with medication ("Some of the most gifted The people I met, crazy ... We would have no art, put them on the conveyor belt ... In a sense, madness should be welcomed, not making our children for medicines ").
Photo of Sarah Colemen. Michael Moore, John Maluf and Charles Siskel at Doc NYC Festival
Maluf, on the contrary, was modest and restrained. "I can't not feel the awkwardness and interests of the guilt, putting a plan for the work of one who did not want it," he admitted. Partially this awkwardness is definitely caused by the fact that he reveals on the laurels of Labor Mayer, however, I am glad that this luckyman was exactly the sincere and responsible young man like Maluf. He spoke eloquently about the mastery and taste Meyer and admitted that her work inspired him to occupy a photo. In response to a question about copyrights, asked from the audience, Maluf said that he had reached an agreement with the living relatives of the photographer. "By providing the publication of her works, you owe every 10 cents that you get," summed up Moore.
From more than 150 thousand negatives that Mayer showed for his life abouttheorest part is portraits of people and genre scenes. But a significant share also make up self-portraits confirming the assumption of Moore that, like most people, she wanted to be seen and wanted to stay in mind, even if only in his own. Many of the self-portraits are published in the monograph "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", and some are now exhibited at Howard Greenberg Gallery.
Vivian Mayer / Vivian Maier. New York, February 1955 From the book "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", photos of Vivian Mayer Ed. J. Malufa. POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing
Mirrors, windows, cars, shadows on the beaches and brick walls - Mayer resolutely and daily makes himself in a frame. The emotional range of these portraits is quite wide. Some seem sad and melancholic - Mayer is isolated, stronger and alone; On the others, it looks happy, and the third is touching the fancy, as in the picture, where she captured her shadow on the sand of the beach with a sword luck in the heart.
As Maluf writes in the preface to the book, let we never know who Vivian Mayer was actually, but we can take a look at her through the "unique confession" of her self-portrait. And we see in them completely realized and sophisticated personality, sometimes dying and playful, and sometimes - in-depth in itself and closed. Even in his most gloominess and gloomy, the Mayer never stopped creating and inventing, looking for unique shooting points and solutions that were built into the perfect composition.
Vivian Mayer / Vivian Maier. Chicago, 1956 from the book "Vivian Mayer: Self-portraits", photos of Vivian Mayer Ed. J. Malufa. POWERHOUSE BOOKS Publishing
Unfortunately, in the life of Vivian Meyer was not "Heppi End". As it agrees, it became increasingly eccentric and paranoid, accumulating piles of newspapers and junk, prompting friendly participation and at the same time burning off from people. In the hospital, where she died, she was remembered as a preserved old woman, lonely sitting on a park bench. If young Vivian at that moment went past, she would undoubtedly stop to take a photo.
Right say: the case is a pseudonym of God when he does not want to subscribe to his name. If one beautiful in the morning of 2007, a modest real estate agent John Maluf did not look at the auction the sale of old things of the city of Chicago and would not give a round sum of $ 400 for dust boxes with negatives, the world did not see the brilliant portraits to anyone unknown photo hosting Vivian Mayer (Vivian Maier).
About who this woman knows a bit: a fragile lovely native of New York, the daughter of Austrian and Frenchwoman, who lived to old 83 years. Traveled a lot, in the worldview was a feminist. For forty years Vivian Watched children from rich families. She did not have her children, but the young girl left behind another heritage, the true works of photo art, because the "beautiful nanny" was covered by a strong passion - photographing everything that "loved" eyes. Miss clock Meyer.without looking at the weather, wandered through the streets and prospectuses of various cities, where she was brought to be perpetuating the building, cars, random people on the film. Thousands of "stopped episodes of life" are emotional and incredibly nostalgic personnel of the 1950-1970 periods.
Three years after the find of a valuable archive VivianThrowing his former work Maluf, together with the famous collector Jeff Goldstein (Jeff Goldstein), organize the first exhibition Vivian In Norway, then in Chicago. Non-critical frames are so many and all of them are so professional and distinctive that digitization of pictures continues to this day. Each new job - This is a sensation among millions of fans of photography.
Vivian tried to see and capture life in all of its diversity, she independently journey through many countries of the world, in particular, visited Egypt, Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, France, Italy and Indonesia. At the end of life, Vivian fell a lot of tests, for some time she was homeless, lived in New York on a manual in the nursing home. However, the children who she brought up in his youth came to the rescue: they removed the apartment to her and cared for their nurse to death.
More photos Vivian Mayer can be found on the official website dedicated to her work.
And also read the posts series about the work of Vivian Mayer:
The talented handwriting of the photographer Vivian Mayer in importance can be compared with such significant figures of the American Street photography (street photographs genre), as Lizette Model, Helen Levitt, and Harry Vinogrand. Vivien was born in New York on February 1, 1926, part of her childhood was held in France. In the native city, she returned in 1951, there began her passion for photography. In 1956, she moved to Chicago, in which he lived until death in 2009.
Vivien Meyer's amazing works were discovered by John Maluf at one of the Chicago auctions in 2007. At the time of studying historical documents about one of the quarters of Chicago, the young collector acquired an impressive Lot content, consisting of prints, negatives and diapositives (mostly uncommitted), as well as films on 8 mm film - the creations of this unknown author-riddles.
A modest woman leading a secluded lifestyle, Vivian Mayer, in reality, in the thirty years of creativity, took 120,000 personnel, which never showed anyone at life!
Vivian Mayer served as a governess in families with children. All his free time and moments of rest, she devoted self-education in the art of photography, armed with a cell-type camera (followed by Rolleiflex and Leica) and removing the streets of New York and Chicago. According to pupils, she was an educated, open, generous woman, although very discreet. Its photographs indicate a genuine curiosity to everyday things, a deep interest in random passers-by, the view of which crossed with the lens of its camera: facial expressions, pose, rich ornaments or modest dresses. Some of the pictures are made from afar, stealing, and others - reflection of strangers, shot at close range. She treated sincere sympathy to homeless and marginal, leading a chronicle in Portraights relevant to her America.
Vivian Meyer died to anyone unknown, in April 2009 in the family of Gensbur, who sheltered her after 17 years of work in their home. Most of its property, including photos, was kept in stock, while in 2007 they were not sold to debt. Her biography is assembled in pieces due to research conducted by John Malouf and Jeffrey Goldstein (another collector, owner of another part of her creative heritage). Of the formal information, it is known about its Austro Hungarian and French roots, about various travels in Europe, namely France (in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Shamsor Valley in the Upper Alps, where she held His Childhood), as well as in Asia and the United States. So far, the circumstances that led it to the passion of photography and its creative path has yet to find out.
The photo was for Vivian not only by passionate hobbies, but also the need with a shade of obsession: countless boxes with uncomplicated, due to the lack of funds, the material, as well as the archive of its books and news cuts, accompanied it everywhere, from home to the house, where she worked nanny.
Works Vivian Mayer detect diverse, and seemingly minor details, randomly discovered by the author during her walks; They feel special detachment, the uniqueness of each character, a laconic location in space. In a series of their fascinating self-portraits, Vivian Mayer appears reflected in the mirrors and shop windows.
Read more familiar with the works of the photographer online dedicated to her work.
I learned about her by chance - I watched in the "Youtyuba" some documentary film, and he, when ended, automatically "crossed" to the next one. The film told about this woman, a strange and mysterious photographer, which the world learned quite recently.
She had no family, children, girlfriends and close relatives. She lived for a long life (1926-2009), but very little evidence remained about it - only the disparate memories of her numerous owners, and their children, for whom Vivian looked after - she worked with a nanny all his life. And her photos are thousands, thousands of photos! Vivian photographed almost continuously, just all that saw: children, adults, scenes on the streets, and even garbage in baskets!
Her photos are striking me ... notch. They are so vitality that the lack of sound, colors and movements are introduced into a light dissonance; This is life itself.
The world found out about Meier thanks to the young eccentric guy John Malufu, who for an insignificant amount bought a negative film at auction, not knowing that they were captured. Printing photos, John struck their expressiveness and professionalism, an amazing feeling of frame and compositions that an unknown author possessed. John wanted to introduce humanity with his find.
The problem was that no museum recognized the artistic value of the works found, first of all, because Vivian himself almost never published his photos, it only kept the negatives. Seal photos Museums did not want to do. Then Malof began to cooperate with one cultural center and organized the first exhibition. Success was colossal! John also became interested in Vivian himself, her life, and began to look for close photographers who could tell something about her.
It turned out that she was born in the family of Europeans - the Father-Austrian and the French Mother. And even though Vivian was born in New York, she spent his childhood and youth in Europe. Her native language was French, in English she spoke all his life with an emphasis. After moving finally in America, she first lived with a friend-photographer, she apparently taught Vivian to photograph. I must say that long-range French relatives still keep the photos-camera of Mother Vivian, so she is not the first photographer-family in the family.
Vivian used a rather expensive Rolleiflex camera. She was not necessary to bring to the face, the photos were made from the chest, which did not pay attention to passersby.
Wivian was in life quite a bright period: she, apparently, received an inheritance from Europe, left a job for 8 months and went to travel. One. Vivian had never had a guy, or just a whageport, anyway, no one remembers such. She was ugly, angry, awkward in movements and quite high growth - more than 175. In addition, Vivian was painfully closed in himself and quite suspicious that with age acquired clinical forms.
During the journey, she visited South America, Egypt, Thailand, Vietnam and Europe. And made a lot of photos, naturally.
In all families in which Vivian worked, it remembers her as "very strange," and some, as a "completely sick" woman. One of the former interests argues that Vivian fad went beyond the usual eccentricity. So, she could have the story of young children, for whom looked at the quarter of the slums to picked up the life of the beggar and vagrants. Or, for example, take a baby with you ... to the slaughterhouse.
Some of her pupils remember her without much warmth, she was still the nanny. One woman told that in childhood Vivien fell down and forcibly fed, while the girl was not 8 years old and she did not learn to feather and resist.
Another case recalled another family: Vivian became a witness of how the kid from this family knocked down a car (not to death, fortunately). He was laid on his stomach and covered the jacket before the arrival of the ambulance, and Vivian, instead of reassuring the boy, ran around and photographed.
Very "bad" Vivian has become on the slope of years. She clearly showed signs of paranoia. She joined the window all the time, being confident that she was followed. Vivian did not throw anything, did not allow him to go to his room, she collected any trash, her dwelling to the ceiling itself was clogged with newspapers folded in stacks. Because of these newspapers, she lost the last job: the owners gave a little newspapers to the neighbor, who did repair, which caused Vivian attack of uncontrollable rage. She arranged a grand scandal, and it became the last straw. Employers were very sorry for a woman, but to look after the children, they could not trust her. They fired her, but helped acquire a small one's own dwelling and supported with her connection until the end of her life.
Days of their Vivian graduated from the nursing home, but it was only the last year of her life. For a long time, she served himself, and in the nursing home only after the injury gained. Her neighbors remember an elderly lady, which wandered around the park, exploring the contents of garbage tanks, quietly imparting in French and giving advice to passersby. She died in 83 years old.
Vivian was clearly not going to publish his photos. She photographed for himself, she liked the process itself, even the prints of the pictures did not interest her. Perhaps her painful fantasies demanded continuous capturing of everything that happens around. She sometimes said: "I-Woman's mystery!", Or even reported sometimes that it is a spy.
Her legacy is huge - more than 100,000 personnel of negatives. Many have not yet printed. In addition, Vivian did and video records. Most of her heritage poured John Maluf, part of the archive he was forced to resell the collector Jeff Goldstein, as it simply did not have time to treat materials in such quantities. John and is now studying the life of Vivian, the popularization of its heritage by the organization of exhibitions. He took a film about her.
Her photos are amazing - as if, they did not do a dry closed woman with oddities, but someone else - cheerful, mischievous and loving life. Maybe she was so, just did not give it to anyone to consider.
But you can consider her photos:
Part of photos taken from the site
Introduction
In 2009, the world learned about the new genius of the photo - Vivian Mayer, who, unfortunately, did not live to this glory. The discovery shook the world of arts: "New Cartier Bresson!", "Original female look!", "Unique!", "Mysterious!" - shouted the headlines of newspapers. She was put on a par with the classic photographers Diana Arbus, Helen Levitt, Harry Callaham, Lizette Model. "Vivian Mayer - Master", "She is a genius of street photography", "How could we not know about her?!" - exclaimed art historians and art critics. There were exhibitions around her photos: "In search of Vivian Mayer", "Vivian Mayer is a found life", "Vivian Mayer: Women's Lens", "Mystery Vivian Mayer" and others. "But who opened the world of this ingenious photographer?" - Many wondered.
Behind this noisy and amazing discovery was "modest and embarrassing" young man of years 26, John Maluf, a native of Chicago. He accidentally bought a box of negatives on the auction that recently died in the nursing home of the "crazy old antifreeze." His way of discovering Vivian Mayer, "offerings" of this genius to the world, including - in charge of the world of arts inhabited and closed on himself ( Becker, 1982), was "not easy" and "Terinist". In 2013, Maluf in collaboration with Charles Siskiele releases the film "In Search of Vivian Mayer" ( Finding Vivian Maier.), telling about his "unclean" struggle. Despite the debut of Maluf as a co-director, a film, like the exhibition photographs Vivian Meyer, noisily and enthusiastically passed at many international festivals, and then went to the rental.
Without a random purchase Maluf, Vivian Mayer would have remained unknown and unpleasant. As many other artists, we will never know about and most of which are women. But for this rainbow missionary history, another narrative is hidden.
In my opinion, the "opening of Vivian Mayer", reproduced and documented in the film, is a process of capitalist capture, objectivation, assignment and fetishization of the results of someone else's creative labor. Virtually the entire archive of Vivian Mayer, including its photos, negatives, movies, audio records, letters, a collection of publications and records, personal belongings and other items, turned out to be in the hands of one person - John Maluf, who "secured" legitimate and moral law On the dominant discourse about the life and work of Mayer. But not only. He totally subdued his power to her identity, artistic practice (activity) and the right to interpret her creative path. I want to try to analyze and describe this process, putting on the position of Marxist Art Criticism.
For me, the figure of Vivian Mayer, the facts of her biography and artistic strategy are very close and understandable. As for the video artist involved in the similar practice of street film / video documentation; (e) migrants, in the mid-90s who moved to the United States, and then returned to Russia; Women highly valuable personal autonomy and independence; The researcher who shares the position of feminist and gender theory. Regarding everything that I will write about Vivian Mayer, you need to add adverbs "possible", "probably", "apparently". I have neither evidence, nor the opportunity to make sure of right. My analysis is a speculative analysis, but it is based on what is already mentioned, shown and written. I just try to look at the facts and available information, otherwise to "cut a horse" (flowers, 2014).
Biographical legend Vivian Mayer and her "cut"
To restore the entire biography of Vivian Mayer is currently possible, too little information is published. The artifacts of her life, concentrated in the hands of John Maluf, are subjected to harsh selection, the interpretations of their owner and are published only selectively. Following Lukach, which was separated between the "facts" and the facts in the knowledge of reality (Lukach, 2003), at our disposal there are "facts" of the life of Vivian Mayer. Perhaps some of them are valid, for example, such as her birthday and the day of death or what she worked for a nanny in rich families and was a first-class photographer. Covering information about a person provides a restraining opportunity to create myths / legends about him / her, and, consequently, the possibility of manipulating the story itself.
About Vivian Maeir reliably know the following: Born on February 1, 1926 in New York, in Bronx, Father - Austrian, Mother - Frenchwoman (Marie Meier); He died on April 20, 2009 in Chicago, in the nursing home. All other information is fragmentary and represents the result of the investigation conducted and set forth by the self-proclaimed "official" biographer Mayer - John Malouf. On many sites, the same version of this biography reproduces: most of his childhood spent in France (relatives of the mother had a farm in the village); Parents divorced when she was 4 years old; Mother, Marie Meier, after the divorce lived with his girlfriend Zhanna Bertrand, a professional photographer. Perhaps it was she who taught Vivian to use the camera. Where and how the family lived until 1951, it is absolutely not known. According to the migration documents, it was possible to establish that in 1939, Marie returns from Vivian from France to New York, and in 1951 Vivian at the age of 25 comes again from France to New York, but this time already alone.
It should be noted that no historical certificate of Vivian Mayer contains references to its education, as well as assumptions about how her life has been in pre-war Europe, about its possible participation in World War II or that its fate is somehow Could be related to this tragedy, and about other facts that had an impact on its formation. "Biographer" did not even mention the war or about the situation in post-military Europe, although Maluf's film is replete with "testimonies" about her husband, "passion" to men's clothing and shoes, almost military height, etc., which de had It is characteristic.
After moving to New York, Vivian Mayer is arranged to work as a nanny to a rich American family and begins to actively photograph. In 1956, she moved to Chicago, where she continues to work with "Nanny with accommodation" in rich families from the northern regions of Chicagolend, mainly in Highland Park. In parallel, "in his free time as a hobby" she takes pictures. For 40 years. "Nanny, who has always been with a camera" - so they remember the rich rich pupils, giving an interview to Malufu in the film.
In the 90s, its fate is too hard, it is on the verge of full poverty. The family of the Homesburg, where she brought up two boys, helps her with housing and supports her financially. Apparently, at this time, Mayer rents two containers in the repository, where it transports all its volume archive. In 2007, she receives a serious injury of the head, after which she has to move to the nursing home. In the same year, due to an outstanding rental payment, the repository transmits the archive of the auction house, which, sets the contents of containers for sale, breaking it into separate lots. At one of the auctions, Maluf buys a box with negatives for $ 380. On April 20, 2009, Vivian Mayer dies. In October 2009, Malouf's career begins as its interpreter and the owner of 90% of the archive.
The officially outlined biography of Vivian Mayer "draws" the portrait of the uneducated, poor, although independent women self-taught from the lower class, with the ability to shoot well. According to the official version, it was not enough ambitimal in order to become a professional photographer, she lacked knowledge and purposefulness. Instead, she "dedicated her life to care for others as a nanny. "Nanny - her natural vocation, she knew how to give love and care; Street photo was her hobby. "
This is a picture that Maluf is desperately trying to defend, leaves conflicting sensations. Following his data, the Meyer Archive consists of "from 100,000 to 150,000 negatives, more than 3.000 vintage photos, hundreds of movies of films, home movies, an audio records of interviews, original chambers Vivian Mayer, documents and various other objects." How could the "simple nanny" could remove 150 thousand negatives and print 3000 photos? How could she perfectly own a complicated photographic engineering? Why was she so scrupulously collected and kept her archive, clearly thematic and cataloged? Is these artifacts of its practice proof that not nanny was the "core of identity" Mayer, and something completely different?
For a street photographer, it is important to feel comfortable in public space. Especially if this photographer is a woman. The photographer must have a number of qualities, including high speed in choosing a plot or moment, professional knowledge of technology, fearlessness and inconsistency. Meyer owned in perfect all these qualities. Her photographs, its classified and a clearly organized collection of newspaper clippings and other artifacts, the testimony of its former employers are evidence that Meyer was actively interested in the surrounding reality, society and his social device, and also well aware of his place in this system. She was in Marxist dynamic in kind and her trained, an active look ( gaze.) Quickly "pulled out" from the surrounding reality story, and the hand accurately built the song and pressed at the desired moment. At the same time, the dynamism Meyer manifested itself in its need to "express his abilities in the surrounding world, and not in its need to use the world as a means of satisfying its physical needs" (From, 1993: 348).
Cameras used by Mayer, demanded professional knowledge of exposure meters and optics. Determination of exposure and exposure, tuning the focus and light - everything was done manually and very quickly. Judging by the ideal from the technical point of view, these skills were brought to the photographer before automatism. She knew exactly the "behavior" of different films - what kind of image they can give her, the level of contrast and grainability, the possibilities of light and tonality. Meyer was well aware of the process of manifestation and showed his films herself when she had such an opportunity. She gave clear instructions on laboratory printing from their negatives. When she had the opportunity, most often - financial.
Many art historians noted that Vivian Mayer managed to closely approach the objects of his shooting and remove them almost closely. And the heroes of most of her photos are not peaceful bourgeois, but representatives of the social bottom of the capitalist society. As mentioned above, the secret of her "fearlessness" was that she was almost always accompanied by his juvenile pupils. And they were a "guarantee" of its security and provided symbolic protection against possible insult or manifestation of aggression. In the American Children's Society of 1950-60s ( Hays., 1996) no one would venture to attack or insult a respectable lady with children. Vivian Mayer brought the quality of a street photographer to professional perfection, but another feature of her practice makes Meyer consciously and aware of himself as a photographer - its astronomical productivity. She removed on average one roller per day, i.e. from 13 to 36 photos (depending on the format). She "rarely removed more than one frame of the same plot", that is, the negative Mayer is a single personnel of unique events - hundreds of thousands of unique photos. She also filmed a movie and interviewed people in supermarkets, on the streets, in museums. Accuracy of their archive, and he moved to her in the family of employers until the inhibition of the repository hit, also proves its serious attitude towards his creativity, which goes beyond the "hobby" or "fun".
Now it is impossible to argue that Vivian Mayer did not look for the opportunity to exhibit, did not want to be seen and evaluated. In the Malufa film there is an episode where he leads an excerpt of her letter to the owner of the photographer in a small village in France. It offers cooperation in it - printing her photos on postcards. The photographer describes in detail on what paper it is worth printing and how, and also expresses a high assessment with its own work. But there was no cooperation.
It may have been other suggestions and attempts by Mayer to achieve attention to his professional community - American, including. We do not know about it. But it is safe to talk about the structural barriers and restrictions that Vivian Mayer appeared to be faced with a female worker who occupied low-altitude labor and as an artist-photographer.
Part 2. American Society of Mayer and His "Cut"
The American Society of the middle of the 20th century was harshly segregated by gender and the participation of women in the public sphere was limited. The American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1955 issued an article "American Family: Her Relations with Personality and Social Structure," where he described the men's and women's roles that have developed in American society by that time. In his polo role-based approach, the "role" was determined as a regulated set of expectations attributed to the patriarchate tradition of a man and a woman in a heterosexual family. In his opinion, "The role of an adult woman still consists primarily in the fulfillment of its family functions as a wife, mother and household, while the role of an adult man is primarily carried out in a professional world, at work, as well as in providing its families defined status and income "( Parsons, 1955:14-15).
Thus, the woman was supposed to perform an "expressive" role in the family system (and later this expectation was abandoned by family relationships and attached as a "natural" role of women in society as a whole), and a man is "instrumental". Consequently, the private space of the house was fixed for a woman, and Public - for a man. Such an order almost completely excluded women from the public - professional and minimized their influence on public institutions, locating their homes in the family of the family. In the capitalist world, where professional status is decisive in the social status of an individual, a man became the only legitimate actor and the "ruler of the fate" in society.
In addition, the attitude towards the woman-nan, busy "emotional work", has always been dismantling. In a modern social theory, emotional work is excreted from the gray field of silence and ceases to be "invisible." It is defined as a labor - the daily making care of one family members in relation to other family members. By definition, Arly Khokshild is concern - this is "mutual emotional dependence (communication) between caring and receiving care, where concern feels responsible for the well-being of those who are / she cares and carries out intellectual, mental and physical work" ( Hochschild.1983 quote. by Rotkirch, TKACH and ZDRAVOMYSLOVA2012: 131). But emotional work was considered and still considered predominantly "female" labor, and therefore low-status and low-qualified. Gender stereotypes are taken very slowly.
But even if the woman managed to realize himself professionally, she came across numerous barriers inside their profession. The American world of arts of the 1950s and 1960s was a reflection of American society with its gender stereotypes and roles. Artists had to constantly prove their consistency and defend their right to engage in art. In the Western history of the arts, it was traditionally believed that the only legitimate artist, the Creator was always a man, and the woman was perceived as his model or muse.
As Grizeld Pollock wrote: "Women always created works of art, but the treatment of culture with this fact was different depending on the artist's definition definitions (an increasingly becoming a pragmatic social ideal) and understanding of femininity (decisive factor of the social organization)" (Pollock, 2005: 218 ). She also noted that until the end of the XVIII century, this separation was not so acute, and the antagonism appeared when "with the consolidation of the bourgeois society was created by a new and controversial configuration of the artist (a man, a lonely antisional individual and the Creator) and women (Mother-keeper of the hearth and society). This cultural separation guaranteed that hundreds of women who really create art and do it earn bread, will never be recognized by great artists and will not receive great livelihoods. It also acted ideologically, strengthening the absolute sex hierarchy based on the family, which characterizes the bourgeois society, that is, our society "(Pollock, 2005: 218-219).
It should be noted that in the early 1950s in the mid-1960, the feminist movement of the second wave was only originated in America. The famous article of Linda Noahlin "Why wasn't the great artists?", Revealing the institutional and structural causes of the absence of a woman on an art scene, indicating discriminatory and discriminatory practices and stereotypes (Noahlin, 2005). The feminist 1970s have not blown up the art of the world and did not question the male art hegemony. Therefore, the chances of breaking through the barriers of a closed and arrogant American art community of an emigrant woman (and Meier spoke with an accent), to anyone unknown and engaged in lowatty work, were almost equal to zero.
But maybe Vivian Mayer and did not want this breakthrough. Perhaps its project was much more radical than it seems at first glance. The hypothetical interpretation of its life strategy may be as follows: despite its constant and massive cultural production of "external items, things that, thanks to its properties, satisfy any human needs" (Marx, 1950: 41) - highly qualified photos of the highest quality, she intentionally did not "endured" them to the cultural consumption market. Non-participation, inevitable in cultural capitalist trade was its lifetime individual impedance project, its transcendence (Sartre, 1994). But the tragedy of her history lies in the fact that in spite of her personal success in life, after her death, she was still "intercepted", "apreprenered" and is emitted by the capitalist system through its most representative actor - the zaverik "Streary", Delta and the former Real estate agent John Malufa.
In order to implement and legitimize your seizure, Maluf mystifies, banalizes and de professionalizes Vivian Mayer, makes it "Nanny with a camera", refusing to her in a conscious creative process and practice. In the capitalist society, it is much easier to assign a job and the right to interpret that does not know the price and not as evaluated, but a talented woman than the creative heritage of educated, confident and professionally successful artist with a radical strategy. Malouf should not only withdraw the results of creative labor and assign all profits from their sales, but also to realize the activities of Mayer, subordinate identity and assign her body, turn Vivian Mayer in the sign (Bauderyar, 2000).
Part 3. Biographical legend of John Maluf and her "cut"
John Maluf looks and interprets Vivian Mayer from the position of the dominant hierarchy and hierarchiestrifier capital of capital, from the position of the "winner" (Benjamin, 2012). He is a real child of the capitalist system. Like about Vivian Mayer, little is known about John Malfe. More precisely, he tells little about himself. Where did he study (and whether he studied at all), what are his merit, interests, views. The only thing that is known before he "accidentally" bought a box of negatives Vivian Mayer, the fact that he was an real estate agent and a regular participant (since childhood) auction auctions. Maluf is a "bidder in the third generation" (REAVES, 2011), a dealer who earned its capital on resale real estate or other things. He is a typical capitalist, "class who buys without selling, i.e. consumes without producing" (Marx, 1950: 112).
The auction becomes Maluf's metaphor. At first, these are real auctions-sales, where as in the lotto, bought every trash in the hope of doing something from it. Then - a speculative real estate market. And in the end, the high-status market works of art. But the mechanism is everywhere and the same: he buys and resell the goods produced by others and turned out to be on the market for various reasons.
Restore the real facts of the same as it was in the position of the "owner and the main curator Maluf Colonch, Ltd", that is, the copyright holder and managers of the archive of the work of the work of meer- is difficult. There are too many contradictions and dark places, but to solve and clarify their Maluf is not going. Instead, he continues to reproduce his own legend and the legend of Vivian Mayer and in an interview, and in the film, and in official publications. The legend of a simple guy, who accidentally found the archive of the deceased nanny, which turned out to be a genius of the street photography of the mid-twentieth century.
But after this legend, there is still a testimony of his awareness of the value of the work of Meyer, the Pubdeks for nothing in other owners of negatives, selling them part of the Goldstayna collector and the secret agreement with him, paid to the only to the heir at that time (the amount of the transaction was not disclosed). Taking advantage of lacunas and well-indiffered concepts in American copyright legislation, he assigned this right to itself. The result of its gaining momentum was the withdrawal of 100% of the surplus value of creative labor Vivian Mayer.
The dead photographer became the "Golden Residential" for Maluf, providing him until the end of the life was constant income and high social status. The Vivian Mayer ™ project was his "glass escalator", having reached him to the top of the hierarchy of the capitalist society. Thanks to the work of the dead woman, he earned all possible capital (Burdje, 2002): Economic - high revenues from photos of photographs, interest from exhibition activities, publishing books, film distribution, etc.; Social - its status is now defined as the owner of Maluf Collars and the entire heritage of Vivian Mayer, he is engaged in charity and educativity; Cultural - he now positions himself not as a small real estate agent, but as a photographer, director and artist; And the symbolic -the consisual of all other capital, he speaks of his ministry "Maer's case", that this is his mission. But this is not enough to legitimize yourself. The radical project Mayer should be discredited: the ideological apparatus of the cultural production, to which Maluf now belongs, does not tolerate alternatives and requires the subordination of all its actors, living or dead.
To assign yourself identity and body Meyer, total subordination to her, Malouf turns to documentary cinema. His film "In Search of Vivian Mayer" reconstructs the path of his capture, in parallel creating "facts", "interpretation", "assumptions", which design a portrait of another. But not "other" by Sartru or Lakan, and the "other" on Bovwar. Female friend who has no project, its transcendence, frozen in his own immanity (Bovwar, 1997). Bovwar wrote that "The peculiarity of the situation of the woman is that, possessing, like anyone, autonomous freedom, she knows and chooses himself in a world, where men make her accept themselves as another: she wants to determine as an object and persuade her The very immanence, cosiness, since it will be constantly carried out by another consciousness, essential and sovereign. The drama of the woman is in the conflict between the fundamental claim of any subject, which always assumes itself as a significant, and the requirements of the situation defining it as insignificant "(Bovwar, 1997: 39).
Maluf "launches" in the documentary film the mechanism of replacing experience Mayer - through the banalization of its individuality, the denial of the essence of its practice and dignity and, in fact, through public, in this case, visual - (from) envelope. He consistently creates myths about her "privacy", which he himself is unhappingly violated, explaining this by his missionary task. He collects "Facts" about the "dark sides" of character, demonizing Vivian Mayer, about her "love for children and the parent instinct", which makes it a professional nanny, not a photographer, etc. He attracts experts to legitimize his legends, And witnesses, "knew" Mayer. But who are they, these experts who are ready to talk about the artist with a radical anti-capitalist project? They are the same members of the capitalist society, bourgeois, consumers, as Maluf himself - a rich middle class, gallery owners, collectors, etc. It does not occur to them to look at Vivian Mayer not from the point of view of bourgeois ideology, but from another position. Experts do not question their own position, as the director himself does not. Instead, they make a diagnosis: Nanny Vivian Mayer was mentally abnormal and "she hardly fit into the world around." It should be noted that the family of the Griefs that Mayer knew the rest of the rest and supported her until the end of the life, refused to participate in this film. So far, they did not give any interviews or comment. Perhaps they would have ordered a different archive of the photographer. Malouf laid out the Vivian's personal belongings before the viewer, the testimony of her private life, which she was so tremendous and carefully defended when it was alive. He exposes her physically absent, but a symbolically present body, thereby carrying out the first act of violence over the deceased woman. "She did not want to show himself, so I will show her. I hack all the locks and publicly demonstrate her underwear, things, shoes - so that you can make sure how big my power is above it is "- here is the logic that stands behind these personnel.
He goes further and creates a myth of "possible" sexual violence, which was committed over Mayer. Although the word "rape" was not uttered in the film - the responsibility is too great. "That is why she was afraid of men," tells us Maluf, explaining its appearance, implicit sexuality and "strange" interests. But such an interpretation of actions and views, Meyer seems to me another symbolic violence: the suspicion that she could be raped, puts on it a damage, "light incision", which launches the domineering mechanism of total suppression and submission.
Virgini Deepant wrote that "Rape is a clear political program: the basis of capitalism, a symbol of direct and shameless abuse of power. The strongest establishes such rules of the game to use their power without any restrictions. Steal, select, extort, unconditionally impose your will, to get enough cruelty, having deprived the opponent even the opportunity to resist. Cancellation of the enemy, deprivation of his words, will, integrity brings the strongest to orgasm. Rape is a civil war, where the political right to dispose of others is enshrined at one floor, to force women to feel defective, blamed, degraded "(Depant, 2013: 17). It is not necessary to make a violent act over a woman to subordinate it to himself. It is enough to make a hint and flywheel earn.
Maluf questioned the knowledge and professionalism of Mayer, relying on a clearly regulated cultural production process. The modern world of arts dictates the artist a certain set of actions and interactions: it is not enough to make a good photo, you need to publish it and release to the consumption market, consulting, thereby, its copyright for a photographic work. Meyer did not take the negatives during his lifetime, did not choose checkpoints, did not set the circulation, did not leave instructions for printing, and most importantly - did not print photos (except for those 3000) and did not put his signature. The photographer did not do this and it is imputed to her guilt as a "non-serious attitude to art."
But now everything you need is manufactured and brought to the end. Malouf insists in the film on the importance of the printing process of photographs as the final stage in the pricing of the goods: "She was a skilled photographer, but the seal was not her pane." Now he selects photos and establishes a circulation (usually a series of 15 photos from one negative). All photos of the artist are thoroughly printed, are plugged and signed by John Maluf, the owner of her name. Now Vivian Mayer is equal to "John Maluph": his signature will always stand next to her name, certifying authenticity - not only photos, but also the identity of the photographer itself, turned into a sign.
Conclusion
In the modern ideology of cultural capitalist production, the artist must be built into a dense mesh of social relations that dictate him or her certain requirements - the need to create cultural facilities, organize their creativity, exhibit, printed, sold, maintain and develop social networks, etc. It is constantly. Moreover, the artist cannot be independent of the world of art. It should be "assigned" to him as a worker to the factory, and any attempt to break this connection and dependency is cruelly punishable. Usually oblivion or unknown.
So I would have happened with Vivian Mayer, who successfully built his entire lives the strategy of non-participatory in the world of arts and determined the "cost" of his work - not in consumption, but in the creation. For it, it was the moment of shooting, grappling life by surprise was valuable and self-sufficient. Without showing negatives, not a typing photographs, without stamping them with your own name, without fastening your property right and without making them on the cultural consumption market, Mayer realized radical undermining the capitalist system.
But as soon as the world of arts found it through John Maluf, and perhaps realized the Meier's strategy, a sophisticated punishment was followed - the artist's de professionalization and the assignment of low-altitude identity. Now she is "Nanny, who made brilliant pictures." It is not equal to the status of the "artist with a radical and alternative life strategy." The autonomy of art is restored, the genius is defined, subordinate, mummified, is attributed to the owner and inscribed in history. Order restored. Personal protest Mayer - depressed. Posthumously. For her. But thanks to the film, the document of this process.
Bodrieyar spoke about the narcissistic nature of capitalism, that he could not resist his reflection from loving (Bodrieryar, 2000). But this is reflected and the process of his pleasure itself, as in the "portrait of Dorian Gray" Wilde, reveals the viciousness and corruption of the capitalist system. This happened to John Maluf: admiring himself and his achievements in the opening of Vivian Mayer in his own film, he created a document in which a phased process of alienation, objectification and fetishization of the results of labor and heritage of another person was recorded. The film revealed contradictions, "smoked" a rainbow Maluf myth.
Its public and concentrated statements put important ethical issues of the functioning of the capitalist cultural production system, about the role of the artist in it, about his / her rights and freedoms, as well as the status of the work of art and copyright. Benjamin wrote: "There is no cultural document that would not have been at the same time a document of the barbarism" (Benjamin, 2012: 241). The heritage of Vivian Mayer became a cultural document, thanks to John Malufu, but the process of this formation revealed the mechanisms of enslavement and oppression of a modern person.
P. S. On this, the history of the cultural phenomenon "Vivian Mayer" could be completed. But the capitalist society is the society of insoluble contradictions. And where the same capitalist is born the desire and the right to prove on someone else's work, another actor of the capitalist system appears, the "kind" capitalist, who will challenge and raises the question of his legitimacy. These are the rules of the game. Now the dispute flares out, who really belongs to the copyright of the work of Vivian Mayer. Gegemony Malofa is questioned. Decisions on this issue have not yet been achieved. And perhaps, the project Vivian Mayer will still be successful, although the price of a likely own obligation.
Bibliography
Benjamin V. (2012) The doctrine of likeness. Media Ostetical works. M. de Bovwar S. (1997 (1949)) The second floor. M-spb.
Bodrieryar J. (2000) Symbolic exchange and death. M.
Burdy P. (2002). Capital forms. Economic sociology (electronic magazine). 3 (5): 60-74.
Deepant, V. (2013) King Kong theory. M: Island.
Lukach (2003) History and class consciousness. M.
Marx K., Engels F. (1988) German ideology. M.: Politicize.
Marx K. (1950) Capital. Criticism of political economy. T. 1.
Noahlin L. (2005) Why wasn't the great artist? // Gender theory and art. Anthology: 1970-2000 / Ed. L. Bredicina, K. Dipuell. M.: Rossman.
Sartre J. P. (1994) Progressive-regressive method // Problems of the method. M.
Fromm E. (1993) The contribution of Marx to the knowledge of a person // Psychoanalysis and Ethics. M. P. 344-357).
Flowers A. (2014) pop Marxism. Free Marxist Publishing.
Becker H. S. (1982). Artworlds. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hays S. (1996). The Cultural Contradictions of Motherhood. NEW HAVEN: Yale University Press.
Parsons T. (1955). The American Family: Its Relation to Personality and To the Social Structure, In: Parsons T., Bales Family. Socialization and Interaction Process. Glencoe: The Free Press. 10-26.
Rotkirch A., TKACH O., ZDRAVOMYSLOVA E. (2012) .Making and Managing Class: Employment of Paid Domestic Workers in Russia, In: Salmenniemi S. Rethinking Class in Russia. London: Ashgate, 129-147.
Rich, A. (1996) 'Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence.' Feminism and Sexuality. Columbia University Press, PP. 130-141.
