In 2007, over 100,000 of Maier’s negatives were found and it was only then that the world discovered her talent.
Maier was often her own subject in her photographs and would photograph self-portraits using mirrors, shop windows and other reflective surfaces. During her days off, she would capture street life. Born in New York City, Vivian Maier worked as a nanny for families in New York and later Chicago. Little is known about the American street photographer, however, Vivian Maier is regarded as one of the greatest photographers of the 20th century. VIVIAN MAIER ‘Self-Portrait’ (1971) by Vivian Maier. She took up painting as a pastime and soon her artwork became world renowned. She then spent the majority of her life in and out of surgery, restricted to her bed and suffering from excruciating pain. In 1925, Kahlo was in a serious bus accident where an iron handrail impaled her pelvis. At the age of 6, Kahlo contracted Polio, which weakened her right leg (and was later amputated due to gangrene). They depicted significant moments in her life, feature Mexican political and social issues as a backdrop of the artwork as well.įrida Kahlo was born in Mexico City in 1907. Her self-portraits were auto-biographical and political. The self-taught Mexican artist had painted 143 pieces of work in her time, 55 of which were self-portraits. We can’t make a list of female self-portrait artists without mentioning Frida Kahlo. ‘ Self- Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird’ by Frida Kahlo (1940)