Renown Chicago nanny and photographer Vivian Maier – whose work I admire and whose images I love no matter what the photographic art establishment may say – isn't allowed to just be a fantastic photographer with a colossal and widely available catalog of fascinating street photos.
In yet another battle over her legacy, a former commercial photographer and lawyer, David C. Deal has filed a case where he has dug up an heir to the Maier belongings and is now “...investigating the potential misuse and infringement of copyrighted works whose rights are held by the estate...”.
The new heir, French Francis Baille, had no idea that he was in Maier's family and that he was entitled to any kind of heritage. Crazy, crazy, cray if you ask me! I really don't understand the mindset US lawyers and the laws that support these out of the blue copyright infringement cases...
John Maloof, who bought up Maier's negatives from 2005 and on, has been curating them since then and he has done a fantastic job of publishing her work in my opinion. Maloof and the people around him will probably never be left to do this job undisturbed, but will constantly have to battle critics, the art establishment, known and unknown heirs – and probably lawyers of all of the above.
Such a shame.