Let me cut to the chase. If you can make it you should high tail over to Fotogafiska before these shows end on September 29^th (FYI, that also happens to be the day that the photographic museum shuts its doors at the Flatiron district address and looks for a new home). But more to the point, in my opinion, what really matters is the Vivian Maier exhibit! Simply stated, it is one of the most meaningful shows I’ve seen in a long, long time and capped off a summer full of terrific exhibits I was able to see!!

Things didn’t start out well. After being cooped up with Covid and post virus quarantining I needed to get out and quickly determined to go to New York before it was too late. So, last Monday I got up early, drove to Hamilton Station in New Jersey and caught the 8:33 train. It was a gorgeous day and I was feeling much better, so instead of taking the subway I decided to walk to Park Avenue South, only find that Fotografiska was closed … despite what their website and signage on the building entrance said!

#$%^#$%^&*(!?

After a little pounding on the glass door, someone came out and told me they were now closed on Mondays. Good to know.

#$%%^&$%^&*?

I was a little bit mad, so I turned around, walked back to Penn Station and caught the next train back to Jersey.

Not to be deterred, I called Fotografiska the next day and confirmed they would be opened the remainder of the week. So, on Wednesday, I repeated the drill. I got up early, drove to the Hamilton again, and caught the 8:33 train. It wasn’t gorgeous like Monday, but the walk was still nice and I arrived 15 minutes before the museum opened. When the doors opened I went to the front desk with a determined look, and to their credit the cost of my ticket was waived!

My main interest was to see the Vivian Maier show and as indicated above; it didn’t disappoint! The show was composed of self-portraits, wonderful street scenes of ordinary life … people interacting with each other and their environments, made during the Fifties and Sixties in New York and Chicago.  There were also a group of pictures made of children at play and several landscapes made in and around Paris, the beaches in New York and Chicago and several other locations. Also included in the show were images of portions of people’s bodies, such as hands and the back of heads, or hands holding things like a purse, a hat or a cigar. These fragments actually said quite a lot about the individuals they were attached to even though we don’t know anything else about them!  Finally, there were images that captured the street surface itself and artifacts found on it, along with some pictures of doorways and windowsills. The important thing was that Maier got close to all her subjects. That’s because: one, she was a great photographer, and two, she was limited to using the 80mm lens on her Rolleiflex 2.8F TLR.

The vast majority of the tastefully sized photos were black and white, but there were a handful of color images made with a Leica IIIc and a 90mm Elmar lens. Both cameras were on display at the show along with one of her signature hats! What is amazing is that these images were but a tiny sample of the more than 150,000 negatives Maier produced during her lifetime.  Everything I saw was incredibly powerful!  Perhaps the thing that illustrated just what an accomplished and empathetic photographer Maier was were her proof sheets on display, each of which contained a number of incredible pictures!!  Finally, if all of this wasn’t enough, there were the movies she made on the street later in her life.

Ann Morin, curator of this fabulous show, said the following about Maier … “She has the faculty to understand the extraordinary in ordinary life”.

All in all an incredible and memorable show of one of the great photographers of the last century!!!

Next up, the Bruce Gilden exhibit. Okay, I’ll be honest, after finally seeing Gilden’s work in the flesh I can confirm that it’s not my cup of tea. However, it may very well be yours!

The show was composed of very large black and white street scenes and color portraits. Perhaps the problem I’m having is how Gilden’s images are in such stark contrast to Vivian Maier’s pictures of people. To me, they simply lacked the sense of humanity and inner understanding of the human subject that Maier was able to extract and display in an empathetic manner. This having been said, Gilden’s work is visually powerful and I’m sure many find it very compelling.   I’m glad I had the chance to see it.

Stay well,

Michael