Vivian Meier photos

via
via
via

While making a cup of coffee in the Swift's kitchen, Linda was sharing a story about photo negatives which were recently unearthed. Vivian Meier took photos from the 1950's-1990's mostly in the Chicago area. She seemed to take photos solely for her own enjoyment, as there are more than 100,000 negatives to be sorted and organized which she never shared with others. There are some of Meier's images on a blog by John Maloof, who acquired them through an auction house after Meier's storage locker was sold due to delinquent payments. John Maloof has started to unearth information about her, and from his blog he writes:

Vivian came here from France in the early 1930's and worked in a sweat shop in New York when she was about 11 or 12. She was not Jewish but a Catholic, or as they said, an anti-Catholic. She was a Socialist, a Feminist, a movie critic, and a tell-it-like-it-is type of person. She learned English by going to theaters, which she loved. She wore a men's jacket, men's shoes and a large hat most of the time. She was constantly taking pictures, which she didn't show anyone.

Vivian Meier died in 2009. Her work is going on display for the first time on January 8th though April 3rd at the Chicago Cultural Center.