“Finding Vivian Maier" at the Figge Art Museum -- February 10.
Thursday, February 10, 6:30 p.m.
Fgge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Presented as part of the Davenport museum's free “Thursdays the the Figge” programming, the Academy Award-nominated documentary Finding Vivian Maier will be screened on February 10 in the “Film at the Figge” series, with the critical consensus at Rotten Tomatoes reading, “"Narratively gripping, visually striking, and ultimately thought-provoking, Finding Vivian Maier shines an overdue spotlight on its subject's long-hidden brilliance.”
Born on February 1, 1926, Vivian Maier was an American street photographer whose work was discovered and recognized after her death. She worked for about 40 years as a nanny, mostly in Chicago's North Shore, while pursuing photography and took more than 150,000 photographs during her lifetime, primarily of the people and architecture of Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles, although she also traveled and photographed worldwide. During her lifetime, Maier's photographs were unknown and unpublished, with many of her negatives never developed. But in 2007, Chicago collector John Maloof acquired some of Maier's photos while two other Chicago-based collectors, Ron Slattery and Randy Prow, also found some of Maier's prints and negatives in her boxes and suitcases around the same time. Maier's photographs were first published by Slattery on the Internet in July 2008, but the works initially received meager response. In October of 2009, however, roughly six months after Maier passed away, Maloof linked his blog to a selection of Maier's photographs on the image-sharing website Flickr, and the results went viral, with thousands of people expressing interest. Maier's work subsequently attracted critical acclaim, and since then, Maier's photographs have been exhibited around the world.
Directed by Maloof and Charlie Siskel, Finding Vivian Maier – whose Kickstarter campaign inspired $105,042 in pledges to help bring the project to life – documents how Maloof discovered her work and, after her death, uncovered her life through interviews with people who knew her. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2013 and was consequently shown in cinemas to considerable critical acclaim, with the Observer calling it "a tantalizing and utterly fascinating film." Maloof's and Siskel's work went on to be nominated for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 87th Academy Awards, and the film also received a nomination for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America, the Best Documentary Feature audience prize at the Portland International Film Festival, and the John Schlesinger Award for Outstanding First Feature at the Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Finding Vivian Maier will be screened in the Figge Art Museum's John Deere Auditorium on February 10, admission to the 6:30 p.m. event is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
