尋找薇薇安：一個保姆的影像人生

誰能想到一個孤苦無依、窮困潦倒的保姆會是攝影師呢？薇薇安·邁爾就是這樣一個“深藏不露”之人。她很古怪，愛穿大號外套和男士襯衫;她很孤僻，總是將房門緊鎖，從不與人深入交流;她很神秘，拍攝了數萬張照片卻從不將作品示人。直至去世，她在人們眼中都不過是一個處境凄涼的普通人。2007年的一場拍賣會，一位名叫約翰·馬魯夫的青年偶然拍賣得到一箱底片，并驚訝地發現了薇薇安的攝影才華，自此踏上了“尋找薇薇安”的旅程……

Vivian Maier， the American nanny who led a secret life as a photographer， has been the subject of a handful of books， at least one documentary， and countless exhibitions that have toured the world. During her life， Maier was so secretive about her work that even those closest to her never saw her photographs.

Families employed her to look after their children， but they seemed to know little about their nanny’s background， other than that she had a French accent and a penchant1） for oversized coats and men’s shirts， and she took a camera with her wherever she went.

A Wild Card2） Winner in Photography

Maier started taking photographs in 1949 and continued pretty much until she died， in 2009. Her first camera was a basic Kodak box Brownie3）. It is not known why she started taking pictures， but once she had her camera， she couldn’t stop.

She would drop the children at the school bus in the morning and spend her days wandering around the less salubrious4） neighbourhoods of Chicago taking pictures of down-and-outs5）， drunks， labourers—anyone who caught her eye in the street. Often， it was her own reflection.

Sometimes one of her young charges6） would be the subject of her pictures， playing on a beach， or scowling7） into her lens. Her close-ups of skirts blowing in the wind and details of clothing were sharp observations made decades before the fashion bloggers Scott Schuman8） and Tommy Ton9） even knew what a camera was.

Last year the Beetles amp; Huxley Gallery in London showed a selection of her prolific image making， the merest tip of the archive of thousands of pictures that have set the photography world alight. According to Giles Huxley-Parlour， who co-owns the gallery， Vivian Maier is “the equivalent of a wild card winning Wimbledon10）.”

“She had an incredible eye for composition， subject matter， atmosphere and design.” He believes it is only a matter of time before there is a big museum show on Maier， treating her on a par with11）， say， Irving Penn12）. “It’s pretty advanced photography.”

Found by John Maloof

And next week， when a documentary， Finding Vivian Maier， is released in cinemas， Maier’s journey from a lifetime of obscurity13） to being a household name will be complete.

The film follows the life of Maier as seen from the perspective of John Maloof， the Chicago estate agent who stumbled across a box of 30，000 of Maier’s negatives14） in 2007 at an auction of unpaid-for storage lock-ups. Maloof paid $380 for the negatives in the hope of finding pictures for a history book he was writing about the Portage Park district of Chicago， where he had recently bought an apartment. Sorting through the images， he quickly realised there was nothing relevant for his book. “I thought， ‘Maybe I’ll sell these; I don’t know what to do with them …’”

But Maloof decided to take another look once his book was finished. He started to scan the images and became curious about who had taken them. “I got inspired by the work to take photos of Chicago—in the way this person did.” He enrolled for a class in photography and started to read books on the subject. “I realised the work is better than I originally thought.”

There was no information with the negatives. “It was a giant question mark： Is this person a well-known photographer？ An everyday studio photographer？ Or a journalist？ I had no idea.”

He started to post pictures on his blog to see what other people thought. At first there wasn’t much interest， but then he linked it to a Flickr discussion group. “I guess you could say it went viral，” he told me. “After that her work had a life of its own. People were going crazy for it.”

An Odd and Mysterious Woman

There was one clue， however. Among the negatives he found a name—Avron Gensburg—and an address in Highland Park. It turned out to be a family Maier had worked for between 1956 and 1972， as a live-in nanny to three boys. Maloof made contact and went to meet the brothers. It transpired15） that they had kept in touch with their nanny after they had grown up and had even paid for her apartment in the last years of her life.

But Maier herself remained a mystery. “They didn’t know anything about her past， where she came from， even that she took good images. They knew she took photographs but they didn’t know what they were，” Maloof said. “The things they were telling me were intriguing： She was so private， she had dead bolts16） on her door. I was really fascinated. So I asked， ‘Do you have any other stuff？ I’d love to go through it to get a better idea of who this person was.’ They said they had a locker filled with her things and were going to throw it out because it was almost all just newspapers and garbage.”

Maloof hired a truck， loaded it up and drove back to his apartment， where he methodically sifted through his new hoard， lining up all the endless scraps of paper， looking for clues. “I had so many receipts，” he said. “And she collected so much weird stuff—political buttons， costume jewellery. There’s a lot of her mail.”

Maloof turned detective. He tracked down 90 people who knew Maier. Through his research and interviews， he discovered that she was born in the Bronx， New York， in 1926， to parents of French and Austro-Hungarian extraction17）.

She grew up between New York and her mother’s home village in the southern French Alps. She and her mother left France to return to America in 1939， but Maier lived most of her life without close friends or family. She was a solitary and eccentric figure who was interested in travelling， politics and art. She had a sense of humour and a tendency towards the underdog18）.

A Documentary

From the outset， Maloof thought it was important to document his research journey. His interviews with the families who knew Maier were fantastic material for a feature-length documentary.

“I had to learn a lot，” he said. “I had never made a feature film before.” Maier was such a singular character in her long dresses， her coats （even in the summer） and her floppy hat that she made a big impression on people， so there was no shortage of anecdotes.

Her story is told alongside her countless images from her domestic life as a live-in nanny to her travels. As well as her photographs， there are Super 8 films she made， and even audio recordings.

But the added layer of the film is that of Maloof’s story， obsessively sifting through the ephemera19） of Maier’s life in search of the identity of the photographer， who was rapidly gaining a cult following.

The film’s executive producer was Jeff Garlin， the actor and photography buff. He had seen the first exhibition of Maier’s work that Maloof organised at the Art Institute of Chicago in 2009 and they became friends. Garlin asked the filmmaker Charlie Siskel to be involved in the project. Siskel was intrigued by Maier—and by Maloof—from the start. “It would be a great story even if the work was OK， but the fact that the work is so good is what gives it its staying power，” he said.

Not an Average Photographer

The story is brilliantly told through a series of interviews—of Maier’s own life， her hoarding of newspapers， her secrecy， her relationships with the various children， which veered between loving and fun-filled to slightly odd and unorthodox. The children were taken to parts of town their parents probably weren’t aware of.

She was not your average nanny， and one of the families acknowledges that. They liked the fact that she would go and watch art-house films， have views on politics and dress in men’s shirts. “She had an interesting take on life，” Siskel said. “She was very progressive in her politics. I think just in terms of her outlook on the world， she would not have asked to be pitied.”

“Although it’s a very romantic idea that Vivian set out to be a private artist， that is somehow a little too pat20），” Siskel said. “I think the reality is more complicated—as we show in the film， Vivian did attempt to have her work printed， and at least she is signalling to us with the letter to the French printer that she knew her work was good.”

Maloof agrees that it is probably a more complex situation. “I think she was a very proud person who didn’t want to be told what to do or think， didn’t want anyone telling her anything about her photos. She didn’t like sentiment， even positive sentiments … It was in her personality; she couldn’t handle that type of thing.”

But what is now clear is that Maier knew the strength of her work. She simply—for whatever reason—preferred to keep her talent under wraps21）. It was， after all， her anonymity that allowed her to do her best work.

薇薇安·邁爾是美國的一位保姆，她還有一重隱秘的身份——攝影師。現在，以她為主角的作品已經有幾本書和至少一部紀錄片，她的攝影作品已在世界各地巡展了無數次。邁爾在世時對自己的作品一直諱莫如深，連和她關系最親近的人都從未見過她拍攝的照片。

那些雇她去照看孩子的家庭除了知道她有法國口音、喜歡穿特大號的外套和男式襯衫以及無論去哪兒都帶著相機之外，對這位保姆的背景似乎知之甚少。

攝影界的外卡冠軍

邁爾的攝影生涯始于1949年，差不多一直持續到她2009年去世時為止。她的第一部相機是一部普通的柯達勃朗尼相機。沒人知道她為什么開始攝影，但她一有了自己的相機，就沒法停止拍攝了。

早上，她把孩子們送上校車，然后漫步于芝加哥的窮街陋巷打發時光。無業游民、醉漢、勞工——凡是街上那些吸引她目光的人，她都將其一一攝入鏡頭。她還經常對著鏡面物自拍。

有時，她照看的孩子也會成為她的拍攝對象，照片中的他們或是在沙灘上玩耍，或是怒視著她的鏡頭。她為風中飛舞的裙裾和衣著細節拍攝的特寫觀察敏銳。她拍這些照片的時候，距離時尚博主斯科特·舒曼和湯米·唐知道相機為何物還有好幾十年呢。

去年（編注：英文原文發表于2014年7月11日），倫敦的Beetles amp; Huxley畫廊從邁爾拍攝的眾多照片中選出一部分進行展覽，這只是邁爾為影像世界增添異彩的成千上萬幅作品的滄海一粟。用畫廊老板之一賈爾斯·赫胥黎-帕勒的話說，薇薇安·邁爾“相當于一位贏得了‘溫網’冠軍的外卡選手”。

“她在構圖、題材選擇、作品基調和構思方面極有眼光。”他相信，遲早會有博物館將邁爾與歐文·佩恩同等對待，為她舉辦大型展覽。這不過是時間問題。“她的攝影水平相當高超。”

約翰·馬魯夫的發現

約翰.馬魯夫的發現

下周，當紀錄片《尋找薇薇安·邁爾》在影院上映時，邁爾將會完成從默默無聞到家喻戶曉的轉變。

影片從約翰·馬魯夫的視角講述了邁爾的人生。馬魯夫是芝加哥的一名房產經紀人，在2007年一次逾期未付寄存租金的寄存物拍賣會上，他偶然發現了一箱邁爾拍攝的照片的底片，總共有三萬張。馬魯夫花380美元買下了這些底片，希望能從中找到一些圖片，用于他正在撰寫的有關芝加哥波提吉公園地區歷史的書里——他剛剛在那兒買了一套公寓。在將這些圖片梳理一番之后他很快發現，其中并沒有與他要寫的書相關的素材。“我當時想：‘也許我該把這些東西賣掉，我不知道該拿它們做什么……’”

不過，馬魯夫決定一旦把書寫完就再回頭看看這些底片。他開始瀏覽這些圖片，漸漸心生好奇，想知道是誰拍攝了它們。“我受這些作品的啟發，也開始像它們的拍攝者那樣拍攝芝加哥的照片。”他報名參加了一門攝影課程，并開始閱讀攝影方面的書籍，“我發現這些作品比我最初以為的更加優秀。”

這些底片沒有提供任何信息。“我心里有個大大的問號：這人是個著名的攝影師嗎？還是照相館的一位普通攝影師？或者是一名記者？我不知道。”

他開始在自己的博客上發布這些照片，想看看別人作何反響。起初，沒什么人對這些照片感興趣，但后來他把鏈接發到了Flickr （編注：雅虎旗下的圖片分享網站）的一個討論組里。“這些照片火了，我想你可以這么說，”他對我說，“從那以后，她的作品有了自己的生命力。人們為之著迷。”

一個神秘古怪的女人

不過，馬魯夫還是找到了一條線索。他在那些底片中發現了一個人名——艾弗倫·詹斯伯格，還有一個位于高地公園的地址。原來那是邁爾的一個老雇主家，邁爾曾在1956～1972年間作為住家保姆照看他們家的三個男孩。馬魯夫在和詹斯伯格兄弟取得聯系后前去拜訪了他們。馬魯夫得知兄弟三人在成年后仍然和他們的保姆保持聯系，就連她生前最后幾年的房租都是由他們支付的。

但邁爾其人依然是個謎。“他們對她的過去一無所知，不知道她從哪兒來，甚至不知道她照片拍得很好。他們知道她拍照，卻不知道她拍了些什么，”馬魯夫說，“他們給我講的那些事很有意思，比如，她非常孤僻，她的房門上安裝著固定鎖。我對此很著迷。于是我問：‘你們還有沒有別的什么東西？我希望能看看，從而更好地了解邁爾這個人。’他們說有一個柜子，里面滿滿的都是她的東西，他們正打算扔掉，因為里面放的幾乎全是報紙和一些破爛。”

馬魯夫雇了輛卡車，載上柜子，運回自己的公寓。他有條不紊地細細翻檢這些新入手的藏品，將無數張紙片整理成排，尋找線索。“我發現了很多張收據，”他說，“她收藏的盡是些稀奇古怪的東西——競選徽章、人造首飾，還有很多她的郵件。”

馬魯夫變身為一名偵探。他找到了90個認識邁爾的人。他通過調查走訪得知，邁爾1926年出生在紐約布朗克斯區，她的父母有著法國和奧匈帝國血統。

邁爾的童年分別在紐約和位于法國南部阿爾卑斯山區的母親的故鄉度過。1939年，她和母親離開法國回到美國。不過，在她一生的大部分時間里，她既沒有親近的朋友，也沒有家人相伴。她性格孤僻、古怪，對旅行、政治和藝術感興趣。她有幽默感，同情窮困潦倒者。

一部紀錄片

馬魯夫從一開始就認為有必要把他的調查過程記錄下來。他對認識邁爾的那些家庭的采訪正是一部紀錄長片的絕佳素材。

“我得學習很多東西，”馬魯夫說，“我以前從來沒制作過電影。”身穿長裙和外套（即使在夏天也穿著外套）、頭戴松軟便帽的邁爾是如此獨具一格，給人們留下了深刻的印象，因此關于她的趣聞軼事也不少。

伴隨著邁爾拍攝的大量照片，影片將邁爾的故事娓娓道來——從她作為住家保姆的家居生活到她的旅行。片中不僅有她拍攝的照片，還有她制作的超8毫米電影，甚至還有錄音資料。

不過，影片還有額外的一條線，那就是馬魯夫的故事。他著魔般地細查邁爾收藏的物品，探尋這名攝影師的身份，后者已迅速擁有了一批狂熱的追隨者。

影片的執行制片人是杰夫·加林，他還是一位演員和攝影愛好者。他參觀了馬魯夫于2009年在芝加哥藝術博物館為邁爾的作品舉辦的首次展覽，之后兩人成了朋友。加林邀請了電影制作人查理·西斯克爾共同參與影片的制作。西斯克爾一開始就被邁爾——以及馬魯夫——的故事吸引住了。“即使那些照片水準平平，這也會是個好故事。但事實上邁爾的作品非常出色，這就讓這部影片擁有了長久的生命力。”西斯克爾說。

非典型攝影師

影片通過一系列采訪精彩地講述了邁爾的個人生活、她收藏報紙的習慣、她的神秘莫測以及她和不同孩子之間那充滿愛和樂趣卻又略顯怪異、不拘常理的關系。她帶孩子們去過的一些地方恐怕連他們的家長都不知道。

她不是一個普通的保姆，曾經雇過邁爾的一戶人家認同這個說法。她會去看藝術電影，有自己的政治見解，穿男式襯衫。他們喜歡這樣的她。“她對生活的解讀很有意思，”西斯克爾說，“她的政治觀點非常進步。就她的世界觀而言，我想她是不會乞求別人的同情的。”

“有人覺得薇薇安原本就想當一個不為人知的藝術家。這個看法雖然很浪漫，但卻有點過于膚淺，”西斯克爾表示，“我覺得實際情況要更加復雜——正如我們在影片中所展現的那樣，薇薇安的確曾經嘗試發表自己的作品，至少從她寫給法國洗印商的信里我們就能看出，她知道自己的作品很優秀。”

馬魯夫也同意這一點，覺得真實的情況或許更復雜。“我覺得她是一個非常驕傲的人，不愿意讓別人告訴她應該怎么想或怎么做，也不想聽到別人對她的照片發表任何評論。她不喜歡別人的看法，即便是正面的看法……她天性如此，無法應對那樣的事。”

但如今我們清楚的是，邁爾知道自己作品的長處。無論出于什么原因，她只是選擇將自己的才華隱藏起來。畢竟，正是這種隱匿才使她創作出了最好的作品。

1. penchant [?p???ɑ?n] n. 愛好;嗜好;傾向

2. wild card：外卡參賽隊或選手（指在競得參賽資格者外由賽事組織者另行選定也參加奪標決賽的球隊或選手）

3. Kodak box Brownie：即勃朗尼相機，美國柯達公司生產的一種廉價相機

4. salubrious [s??lu?bri?s] adj. （地方等）怡人的;有益健康的

5. down-and-out：窮困潦倒者;無業游民

6. charge [t?ɑ?（r）d?] n. 被照管者

7. scowl [ska?l] vi. 皺眉;怒視

8. Scott Schuman：斯科特·舒曼，美國服裝設計師，是一位行走于街頭的時尚捕捉者。

9. Tommy Ton：湯米·唐，加拿大著名時尚街拍攝影師，擅于捕捉細節和瞬間。

10. Winbledon：即溫布爾登網球錦標賽（Wimbledon Championships），簡稱“溫網”，通常于每年6月或7月在英國倫敦郊區的溫布爾登舉辦，是網球四大滿貫之一，也是網球運動中最古老和最具聲望的賽事。

11. on a par with：與……相同或相似

12. Irving Penn：歐文·佩恩，20世紀最偉大的攝影師之一，生于美國新澤西州，《時尚》（Vogue）雜志的專職攝影師，以肖像、靜物和時裝作品著稱。