Love her work - the way she was able to get close yet sneak around and capture her shots is amazing. To say she wasn’t a master, please...walk to the south side of Chicago and the west suburbs and show us how easy it is.

I've been a big fan of street photography, and Vivan Maier's work is among the best I've ever seen. But the icing on the cake is her story! So fascinating!

Well, of course a gallery owner, who has invested in other artists already, will say she isn't a master simply because they do not represent her or own any of her work. Vivian Meier's output is just as good, if not better, than the 'masters' of her time or ours. She is, as one of the people in the video puts it, a game changer. In the list of master photographers of the 20th century, they need to make space somewhere at the top for this lady…..if not THE top. Cartier-Bresson fans, hold on to your hats. Street photography history will be re-written in the next few years.

I think that most people would be delighted to take photographs as good as these. I also agree with the university teacher Pamela Bannos in that we shouldn't try to 'pigeon hole' Viviens work. Please somebody save us from the so called 'experts'. I personnally think her work is outstanding. Another book to be ordered for my collection! Many thanks for sharing this.

I guess she did not want to promote who work because of people like that gallery owner. The world is full of people like him. For me, her work has become timeless. She was after all, a true artist.

Absolutely agree with JonnyUnderrated concerning the gallery parasite - Vivian's images are spontaneous, and speak with a directness that transcends the obfuscation of so-called art critics.

Wow. Hopefully Vivian's story helps change the art world for good. Her beautiful photographs speak for themselves. They're are not only art, but they're also a great photographic diary of the people and places that once were. Taken by someone with little training, who is as anonymous as the subjects that she shot. Just a woman with a camera, shooting the things that interested her. No agenda. No desire to make a name for herself or to make money. Just a love for capturing life as it was. I've seen gallery owners, curators, and photographers with negative opinions about this, so to me It seems as though people involved in the photography world are a little scared that there services aren't needed here. Since the guys who own everything are the ones controlling it. I'm not discounting the people who have put in the schooling and training to be where they are, but the art world can be a very phony place, and it's nice to see people who make great art, who don't have the means, or desire to exploit themselves, get recognized for what they do.

And 2 of the 3 photographers he mentions came after her...

Vivian Maier is The Master of street photography. When you see her pictures you do not need a snobbish gallery owner to tell you why the picture is notable. You just get it. She took the picture you would have taken. And she did it with skill and quality equipment.

That gallery owner is such a loser...calling her a "Good student but by no means a master" ... Who are you to decide buddy ? I hate pretentious "Art geeks" ...gimme a break. If her work speaks to people (Everyday people) then thats all that matters. Maybe the reason she never showed her work off in the first place was because she didn't want to be judged by art gallery owners and so called "experts". She clearly captured amazing unscripted moments on film and that all that matters. Nice video!

At 7:58, if that photograph pre-dates [the majority of] Arbus's oeurve, I fail to see how it could be derivative or influenced by Arbus. With so many left to look at, it's hard not to imagine that some of her stuff might actually be superior to that of Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, etc.

Thank you for bringing this to us! I love her work!

It's interesting that he is unable to recognize the real thing, even as it is right before him. It's interesting that he doesn't seem to realize that her work pre-dates some of the work she is supposed to be "student" of. But I suppose a lot of gallery owners are like that. They're unable to see things which they haven't been told by people they consider 'authorities'.

Everyone is influenced by somebody.

Please identify the background music used for this video. I think it is haunting.

Her work is so good and such an inspiration as a documentary photographer i am definitely not the same since viewing her work. The gallery that does not see her work as a master is crazy Arbus was good for sure but Vivian's is not the same

The know-it-all gallery owner doesn't know that Diane Arbus is pronounced "Dee-ann".

Ich finde sie ist zu Lebzeiten verkannt worden. Sie machte kein Aufhebens um sich. Eine stark ängstliche in sich teilweise gekehrte Persönlichkeit. Interessant. Ja und sie kümmerte sich gerne denke ich um Kinder, da sie gut sind. Denn sie nahm sie einfach mit, so konnte sie beiden verbinden Arbeit und ihr Hobby. Echt genial dieses so damals gelebt zu haben, sie brach doch Konventionen auch in Amerika NY oder ? Mh. Danke guter Bericht. Beate

It's very nice pictures

I love TV people. Waving their hands, everyone of them, Toscanini. Festive.

Only Ansel Adams can make an Ansel Adams print from one of his negatives. Does that apply to Vivian Maier as well? She seems to have concentrated more on the capture than the post.

Whats the name of the piano song?

Given that her work can command fees of around £8,000 per photo I wonder if this pretentious prick had a couple of hundred snapshots in his own personal possession that he'd be so dismissive of her status as a photographer? Those who can DO.Those who can't teach.Or in his case,pontificate.I watched a documentary just last week on BBC TV & I was absolutely fascinated by this woman's amazing body of work.She deserves to be recognized.

two things...I have one of the coffee-table books of color prints- and it is terrible crap! low resolution, like newsprint-maybe so images can't be copied(?) and second: I haven't seen mention of Vivian's use of the Twin-Lens camera, that is completely different from a cellphone or familiar SLR or similar single lens camera; in that the twin lens shooter appears to be discrete and not intentionally interacting with subjects, and so captures more realism and less surprise from subjects, and sometimes more real curiosity, in opposition to 'I'm uncomfortable in the spotlight!' (the 'in-your-face' and selfie relationship is completely different).

You either like her photos or not. The real experts are the people willing to pay for her shots.

Sorry Chicago. Oh there i want to stay a little bit time. I have forgotten to make a call because my thoughts to ask if i can work selbständig und wie teuer ein Gewerbe ist, dies anzumelden. Mh. Thanks. Ich schreibe wieder eine Liste nun. Mh.

Totally agree. The people who run the art establishment are arrogant and believe their opinions are written on tablets of stone. Their worst insult is 'amateur' meaning anyone who works outside their rules. Painter Jack Vettriano is another example.

I am kind of happy and sad for Vivian. I am happy , that those negatives were found, but I am very unhappy that she had to die in order to kind of become a legend. At the end of her life, she was homeless. I just think of how all those bags full of money would help her... However, I feel that Pamela Bannos is the only honest person in this story...

who the f*** is Stephen Daiter?!

7:42 Of course you want to have her pictures. Criticising her work is just sour grapes, but you still really want it.

The experts name will never be remembered. Funny !

His name will not be exactly remembered. But he will be remembered, and everytime a new pile of ridicule is dropped on him, in various books and documentaries, his name is going to be mentioned. But you're right, nobody will remember his name, for more than a minute or two.

The collectors hate women! That's the answer.

The comments from Stephen Daiter are both ignorant and elitist IMO. As a full time freelance documentary photographer and photojournalist for over 30 years, Maier's work is a breath of fresh air in the realm of early street and social documentary photography and is a visual historical record of everyday life through her eyes. The challenge I have is dismissing her work as anything less than exceptional, especially in our digital age of dump trucks filled with bad to mediocre images being uploaded for A.D.D. consumption on social media.