WHY THE COLLECTORS WHO MADE VIVIAN MAIER FAMOUS CAN’T CASH IN ON HER WORK

Vivian Maier, Self portrait, Undated. ©Estate of Vivian Maier/Maloof Collection, Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

On June 30, the executor of Vivian Maier’s estate filed a lawsuit against three commercial galleries exhibiting and selling the late photographer’s images. The executor charged that the collector who lent the pieces to the gallery may have owned the physical images themselves, but did not hold the rights to display or sell the pieces. The case is the latest in a long-running legal dispute over the rights to photographs by Maier, who died penniless and without known heirs. The suit also highlights a crucial aspect of copyright law: purchasers of a physical artwork are restricted in their rights to sell and market the piece.

From a Storage Locker to The World Stage

Until her death in 2009, Maier lived an inconspicuous life bouncing between homes in Chicago’s affluent Northern suburbs and working as a nanny. The children she nannied for describe her as a unique personality, a feminist and film lover, who spent her free time wandering the streets of Chicago. There, she took tens of thousands of photographs that she kept largely to herself. In the later years of her life, most of her photographs and negatives wound up in storage, completely unbeknownst to anyone but Maier herself.

In 2007, Chicago real estate developer John Maloof purchased the contents of Maier’s storage locker at auction without knowledge of what he would find inside. Many storage companies require their tenants sign agreements that forfeit all their rights to the unit’s contents if they fail to retrieve them. But Maier never signed such an agreement, so Maloof’s acquisition of the storage unit was limited to the physical property inside.

That included around 100,000 negatives and slides, including thousands of undeveloped rolls of film. Maloof quickly realized the genius of Maier’s work and sought out gallery representation. He even helped to direct an Oscar nominated documentary about her: Finding Vivian Maier. In 2016, estimates put Maloof’s share of the existing Maier portfolio at around 90% of all her works. Meanwhile Jeffrey Goldstein, another Chicago-based collector, also began to amass a collection of Maier’s works. Maloof and Goldstein’s ownership was however, legally limited. In order to commercialize the photographs they would need to obtain permission from the copyright holders……..

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-collectors-made-vivian-maier-famous-cash-work