Known as “the nanny photographer,” Maier became an Internet sensation after her photos were first shown online in 2009. Since then, Maier’s breathtaking pictures―which show everyday life in mid-century America―have earned her recognition of one of the masters of photography. Presenting her photographs alongside revealing interviews with those who knew her best, this volume puts Vivian Maier’s work in context and creates a moving portrait of her as an artist.
To better understand Maier, authors Richard Cahan and Michael Williams studied census records, ship manifests, and interviewed every person they could find who knew Maier, from her childhood days in the French Alps to the families whose children she cared for in the United States. They combined this biographical information, much of it unreported, with more than 300 photographs that she took starting in 1949 to create the first comprehensive record of her life story.
