On a personal level, the move away from her monochromatic phase saw Maier replace the human figure with color as the 'protagonist' in her images. In her later years, Maier turned exclusively to color photography, and having done so, some commentators have suggested she unwittingly predicted the shift in attitude that allowed color photography to be considered artistically credible.

Indeed, her archive demonstrates that Maier was a learned and adept urban photographer even though she received no formal training. It would be too easy to dismiss her as an accomplished amateur given her ability to identify compositional possibilities using light and shadow, surface reflections and considered points of view.

Known primarily for her street portraits, Maier proved highly adaptable and she possessed a rare ability to pick out patterns between human figures and their architectural surroundings.

Her affinity with a child's worldview (most of her photographs of children are shot from the eye-level of the child) no doubt stemmed from her affection for children which was fostered in her 'day job' (as a nanny).

Maier was unique amongst Street Photographers in the way she was able to interact with children, be they posing for portraits or caught in spontaneous moments of play.

This bond is revealed time and again in the faces of those honorable subjects who filled her sympathetic viewfinder. It is known, however, that Maier took special pride in her working-class roots and, as someone who earned her keep as a domestic help, she shared a special empathy with many of her subjects.

Maier has been likened to the top Street Photographers in the way her work explores the relationship between the image taker and their urban subject.

The publication and exhibition of her work, very little of which was processed or printed in her own lifetime, has led to legal, academic and ethical questions about the posthumous exposure of an artistic vision that has seen her hold her own alongside the likes of Robert Frank, Diane Arbus and Garry Winogrand. She also produced a number of self-portraits (black-and-white and color) which have given the world a picture of an otherwise unknown, intensely private figure. Her earlier years remained faithful to a monochromatic documentary style but, she later adopted color which widened the scope of her oeuvre to allow for an element of symbolism. In her down time, however, Maier would explore urban locations where she found her subjects: the ordinary people living at the margins of society. A 'difficult' woman with few (if any) close friends or lovers, she is often referred to as the Mary Poppins of Street Photography on account of the fact that she spent most of her career working as a nanny. Unknown in her own lifetime, Maier left behind a body of work that has seen her name take on near fabled status.

Vivian maier photography