Vivian Maier’s Poetic Color Photography Is Revealed for the First Time

Color Photos by Vivian Maier

Location and date unknown. © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase, My Modern Met may earn an affiliate commission. Please read our disclosure for more info.

Since 2007, when her photographs were discovered and brought to light, Vivian Maier‘s street photography has captured the imagination of people around the world. Maier, who secretly photographed life on the streets of Chicago and New York for over four decades, is primarily known for her black and white imagery. However, a new book and exhibition is spotlighting her color photography for the first time.Vivian Maier: The Color Work celebrates this visionary artist, one who worked silently and left behind over 150,000 photographs that lay out her way of observing the world. Together New York's Howard Greenberg Gallery and Harper Collins are bringing to the public many photographs that have never before been seen and exposing a new side of Maier's work. While many associate Maier with her beloved Rolleiflex, she also shot roughly 40,000 Ektachrome color slides with a 35mm over the last thirty years of her career.

Maier's color street photography shows the same keen eye for observation and her signature shots, such as her subtle self-portraits, are ever present. Taken from the 1950s to the 1980s, Maier's photographs demonstrate her passion for recording the world around her and, by using color, they become even more immediate to our modern eye.

“Maier was an early poet of color photography,” writes Joel Meyerowitz in the foreword to the book. “You can see in her photographs that she was a quick study of human behavior, of the unfolding moment, the flash of a gesture, or the mood of a facial expression—brief events that turned the quotidian life of the street into a revelation for her.”

Vivian Maier: The Color Work is on view at the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York until January 5, 2019. The book, published by Harper Collins, is available online and in bookstores now.

Vivian Maier's color street photography is being celebrated in a new exhibition and book.

Color Street Photography by Vivian Maier

Self-Portrait, Chicago, February, 1976. © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Vivian Maier Color Photography

Miami, FL, 1960. © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Color Street Photography by Vivian Maier

Chicago, 1972 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Color Street Photography by Vivian Maier

Chicago, 1975 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Vivian Maier Color Photography

Chicago, 1962 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Street Photographer Vivian Maier

Chicago, 1962 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Color Photography by Vivian Maier

Chicago, May 1958. © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Vivian Maier Color Photography

Chicago, 1956 © Estate of Vivian Maier, Courtesy Maloof Collection and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

 

Color Photography by Vivian Maier

Vivian Maier: Website | Facebook

My Modern Met granted permission to use images by Howard Greenberg Gallery.

Related Articles:

More Nearly Lost Street Photos by Photographer Vivian Maier

Interview: Woman Discovers Over 30,000 Secret Photos Left Behind by Her Mother

Nearly Lost 1950s Street Photos of New York

Jessica Stewart

Jessica Stewart is a Contributing Writer and Digital Media Specialist for My Modern Met, as well as a curator and art historian. Since 2020, she is also one of the co-hosts of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. She earned her MA in Renaissance Studies from University College London and now lives in Rome, Italy. She cultivated expertise in street art which led to the purchase of her photographic archive by the Treccani Italian Encyclopedia in 2014. When she’s not spending time with her three dogs, she also manages the studio of a successful street artist. In 2013, she authored the book 'Street Art Stories Roma' and most recently contributed to 'Crossroads: A Glimpse Into the Life of Alice Pasquini'. You can follow her adventures online at @romephotoblog.
Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.

Sponsored Content