Vivian Maier Quiz: The Nanny Who Photographed Chicago

This vivian maier quiz opens a box of undeveloped negatives bought at auction. Play 10 interactive questions on a nanny who photographed Chicago's streets for decades, a Rolleiflex camera held at waist level, self-portraits in reflections and shadows, John Maloof's 2007 auction purchase, her death in 2009, worldwide fame afterward and an Oscar-nominated documentary.

Start Vivian Maier Quiz

🎯 Daily Trivia Challenge • 🧠 10 Questions • ⏱️ 150 Seconds

Question 1 / 10 Time: 150s

Job
What was Vivian Maier's job?
City
In which city did she take most of her photos?
Count
Roughly how many negatives did she leave?
Camera
Which camera did she often use?
Self
What kind of self-portraits did she make?
Found
Who discovered her work at an auction?
Died
When did Maier die?
Known
During her life, was her photography widely known?
Doc
Which documentary told her story?
Born
Where was Maier born?

Explanations: answer key for all 10 questions

Q1: What was Vivian Maier's job?
Answer: A nanny
For many families.
Q2: In which city did she take most of her photos?
Answer: Chicago
Also New York.
Q3: Roughly how many negatives did she leave?
Answer: More than 100,000
A huge archive.
Q4: Which camera did she often use?
Answer: A Rolleiflex twin-lens camera
Held at waist level.
Q5: What kind of self-portraits did she make?
Answer: Reflections and shadows
Creative and mysterious.
Q6: Who discovered her work at an auction?
Answer: John Maloof
In 2007.
Q7: When did Maier die?
Answer: 2009
Before her fame.
Q8: During her life, was her photography widely known?
Answer: No, she kept it private
A secret passion.
Q9: Which documentary told her story?
Answer: Finding Vivian Maier
Oscar-nominated.
Q10: Where was Maier born?
Answer: New York City
In 1926.

The Nanny Behind the Camera

Vivian Maier worked for decades as a nanny, mostly in Chicago, and also lived in New York. In her free time she photographed street life with a Rolleiflex twin-lens camera held at waist level, making candid portraits of strangers and self-portraits in reflections and shadows.

She kept her photography private and left more than 100,000 negatives, many never developed. In 2007 John Maloof bought a box of her negatives at an auction while researching a history book and realized he had found something extraordinary.

Maier died in 2009, shortly before her work became famous worldwide. Exhibitions, books and the Oscar-nominated documentary Finding Vivian Maier made the private nanny one of the most celebrated street photographers.

What This Quiz Teaches

Photography fans will enjoy these questions.

What Maier did for work
Where she photographed
Which camera she used
How her work was found
How she became known

Did You Know?

She also shot home movies.
Her mother was French.
She spent time in France as a child.
Children she cared for remembered her vividly.
Her estate became a legal puzzle.