Nostalgia & History > Vivian Maier Santa Fe Self-Portrait

The enigmatic photographer Vivian Maier took this self-portrait aboard, what I am assuming, is a Santa Fe train. Anybody have any idea which one it might be? Thanks.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/gallery/self-portraits/#slide-28

Erik Leeper
Phoenix, AZ

Most likely the El Capitan. Hi-Level Lounge car.

I concur, it is the Hi-Level lounge car on the El Capitan.  The curious thing I find about the photo is the clock that seems too be imbedded in the Kachina mural upon which her self-image is reflected.  I do not remember that clock.  Perhaps by 1966 the car had undergone refurbishing which took that feature out?

Somewhat off the topic, Ms Maier was very creative with her work!

Lance/199

Here is a link for those who may wish to obtain a bit more information about this interesting person.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/about-vivian-maier/

The thought crossed my mind that some of our highly respected railroad photographers seem to have had similar lifestyles and a desire to capture moments in time for the ages.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ

It appears in the background in a couple photos on this page.
http://www.trainweb.org/outsidetherails/PPCHistory2018/

Hou74-76 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I concur, it is the Hi-Level lounge car on the El
> Capitan.  The curious thing I find about the
> photo is the clock that seems too be imbedded in
> the Kachina mural upon which her self-image is
> reflected.  I do not remember that clock.
>  Perhaps by 1966 the car had undergone
> refurbishing which took that feature out?

I am a fan of Vivian Maier's work, and so I appreciate you pointing us to this image. I agree, it's on the El Capitan, either when run with the Super Chief as a single train in later years, or when still operating as a separate train with its then-unique high level consist. I've ridden on one of the cars of the type in which she created the images several times, and they have long been favorites of mine. Her images in that setting are quite interesting.

I was aware of her work, but became much more acquainted with it after visiting the Chicago Historical Society several years ago to view the outstanding exhibition of the Jack Delano railroad photographs -- a truly first-rate exhibition. In another gallery I discovered (and I do mean "discovered" -- I had no idea before my visit that it was there) an exhibition of Vivian Maier's photographs, also a fine display which I greatly enjoyed. I became a real fan of her work in viewing that exhibition, and I continue to enjoy her work greatly. The exhibition was displayed in a very interesting way, and included softly playing background sounds of Chicago -- including the El passing overhead, and long freight trains rhythmically clattering over the diamonds at one of Chicago's many crossings. She was an excellent photographer in the candid style of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Frank, Diane Arbus and other well-known photographers. She is, like some of those I've named, often termed a "street photographer", a term I find condescending and belittling. I prefer to consider her a "candid photographer", or "candid portraitist". Not to go too far and get into a battle with the high priests of photographic art over categorization, I'll leave it there. But I commend her work to you. Spend some time with it, and I'm sure you'll appreciate it too.

By the way, I don't know if you noticed the ribbon of images below the larger views on board the El Cap on the webpage. They're self-portraits, and quite interesting and inventive. Artists of all genres do them, and some struggle with them. The best of the type are those which give you some sense of the artist's soul and view of life. For hers, I think they do just that.

One final thought, edited on later. To this day, I find it absolutely incredible that she did the kind of candid, "moment in time" photographs for which she is acclaimed using a Rollei twin-lens reflex (old-timers on this site will remember those). Not the easiest type of camera for that work, on the spot and on-the-fly on the busy streets of Chicago. While, much of the time, managing the kids for whom she was a nanny. (She created many of her images while taking them on outings around Chicago). That's skill, my friends, real skill. At least as worthy of admiration as her art.

MC
Muskegon, Michigan



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/19 17:43 by ironmtn.