Lot #27: Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier

Chicago area, 1962; printed 2024

Silver gelatin print

Edition: 4 of 15

12 x 12 inches

Courtesy of Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery

Estimated value: $3,500

Starting bid: $2,400

Buy it now: $4,275

*Auction bidding: DARKROOM attendees are able to place bids in-person on paper ballots during the event on February 27, 2025.

*If you are not attending DARKROOM and would like to place a bid, please contact Jaclyn Silverman jsilverman@colum.edu and Patrick Thornton pthornton@colum.edu to add your bid to our ballot.

*Buy it now: All auction items have buy-it-now options and can be purchased directly through this website.

Vivian Maier (American, 1926-2009)

Vivian Maier’s extensive personal portfolio of street photography was discovered in 2007 at a storage locker auction in Chicago and went viral online posthumously in 2009. She primarily worked as a nanny and caregiver, but managed to photograph prolifically across Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and France. Maier was particularly drawn to children and the socially marginalized and made images with a pure, empathetic curiosity about her surroundings.

Vivian Maier made over 100,000 photographs in her lifetime. Since its discovery, her work has been exhibited widely and is in the permanent collections of National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; French Museum of Photography, Bièvres, France; Museum Folkwang, Germany; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Chicago History Museum; and many others. The documentary of her life, Finding Vivian Maier, was nominated for an Academy Award in 2013.