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  • Linsey Ralston, left, of Chicago, and Caroline Gray-Lyth, visiting from...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    Linsey Ralston, left, of Chicago, and Caroline Gray-Lyth, visiting from England, view photos by amateur street photographer Vivian Maier in the exhibit, "Vivian Maier's Chicago" at the Chicago History Museum in 2014.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

  • The Chicago History Museum has on display several photographs taken...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Chicago History Museum has on display several photographs taken by amateur street photographer Vivian Maier, who became celebrated and famous posthumously. Her work has been the subject of a long-running legal dispute.

  • John Maloof, with his dog Winston, pages through a book...

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    John Maloof, with his dog Winston, pages through a book of images taken by Vivian Maier. In 2007, Maloof bought at an auction thousands of negatives of images taken by Vivian Maier who passed away penniless in 2009. Maloof has since had exhibitions, gallery openings and books published of Maier's images. Maloof and other owners of Maier's work were sued, accused of financially benefiting from Maier's work while a living relative could be found in France.

  • A visitor's legs appear beneath one of the photos by...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    A visitor's legs appear beneath one of the photos by amateur street photographer Vivian Maier on display in the exhibit, "Vivian Maier's Chicago," shown in 2014 at the Chicago History Museum.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

  • David Riley, right, from Greensboro, N.C., views photos by amateur...

    Chris Walker, Chicago Tribune

    David Riley, right, from Greensboro, N.C., views photos by amateur street photographer Vivian Maier in the exhibit, "Vivian Maier's Chicago," at the Chicago History Museum in 2014.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

  • A Vivian Maier photography book in John Maloof's home.

    Phil Velasquez, Chicago Tribune

    A Vivian Maier photography book in John Maloof's home.

  • The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum...

    Phil Velasquez / Chicago Tribune

    The Vivian Maier photography exhibit at the Chicago History Museum on April 26, 2017.

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For a woman of mystery, the late North Shore nanny Vivian Maier certainly is easy to find these days. The latest installments in the posthumous story of Maier and the compelling photographic images she snapped — but rarely developed — come in a new film and newly opened gallery exhibition.

The documentary film, “Finding Vivian Maier,” finally opens in Chicago on Friday. Reviewing it last summer, the Tribune’s Michael Phillips called it “a fascinating documentary about a woman who maintained a dogged, obsessive air of secrecy regarding her own skill with a camera.”

And Chicago’s Harold Washington Library just opened “Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows,” which displays more than 50 big silver gelatin prints, plus a few ancillary items, such as a past-due notice from a photographic company.

The accompanying text seeking to group the pictures reaches too hard for the drama the images effortlessly depict. But the power of those images — of people and places in the city and suburbs, mostly in the 1960s — will put to rest any first-time viewer’s suspicion that the wave of Maier interest might be more about story than art.

The library will screen a different Maier documentary, “The Vivian Maier Mystery,” at 6 p.m. April 24. And the Chicago History Museum’s fine Maier show, “Vivian Maier’s Chicago,” remains on exhibit.

For those keeping track at home, the “Mystery” documentary and library and history museum exhibits are linked to the Jeffrey Goldstein Collection of Maier photographs. The “Finding” documentary is tied to John Maloof’s collection. But that’s another story altogether.

“Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows” runs through Sept. 28 at the Harold Washington Library, 400 S. State St.

sajohnson@tribune.com

‘Vivian Maier: Out of the Shadows’

When: Through Sept. 28

Where: Harold Washington Library (ninth floor), 400 S. State St.

Tickets: Free