The works of esteemed international photojournalist, Bermudian Richard Saunders currently owned by the Gallery, form a collection of international reputation.

Richard Clive Saunders (1922 – 1987) was a photographer all of his life. Richard began learning his art by following a local photographer around the streets of Hamilton as a young schoolboy. Later he worked as a police photographer and established a reputation here for his portraits, but feeling that there was no scope for a black photographer in the Bermuda of 1947, he moved to New York City to take courses at the Modern Photography School, Brooklyn College and the New School for Social Research. During those years he freelanced in New York with his new wife, Emily, acting as his assistant on assignments. His talents were quickly recognized and his work soon began appearing on the covers of such publications as Life, Look, Fortune, Ebony, The New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal and Paris Match.

In 1967, he joined the United States Information Agency (USIA) as international editor and photographer of Topic, a quarterly magazine published in English and French for sub-Saharan Africa. He visited more than 30 countries and photographed everything from heads of state to village elders, from massive dams to small rural co-operatives, and from big industries to tiny boutiques.

Saunders liked to get close to the people he photographed and relied on a wide-angle lense. On the first day of each assignment he would go without his cameras in an effort to build a special rapport with his subjects. The following day he would go with his cameras and penetrate the surface into the spirit of his subject. Saunders did this without fanfare. He loved the process of getting good pictures more than the process of publishing.

In an interview with the prestigious Swiss magazine, Camera, Saunders stated: “What matters to me are people and their feelings; above all it is the unconquerable dignity of man, of whatever colour, creed or persuasion that must come through in my photographs. Photography is communication; a photograph is nothing unless it is seen, and unless it conveys something of life to the viewer.”

Among the noted personalities and famous figures he photographed were Henry Kissinger, Malcolm X, Elijah Muhammed, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection), James Brown (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection), Malcolm X (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection), Elijah Muhammed (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection), Emporer Haillie Salassie (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection), Roy Wilkins, Adam Clayton Powell, Aaron Copeland, Louise Nevelson, and Terence Stamp (part of Bermuda National Gallery Collection).

Mr. Saunders, who became an American citizen, was the recipient of many honours, including USIA’s Superior Honour Award, the International Black Photographer’s Award; and a USIA exhibit of his work was circulated throughout Africa for two years. He was also the recipient of the Bermuda Arts Council’s first annual lifetime achievement award.

Saunders retired in 1986 and died on August 20th, 1987.

In 1992, unique legislation was passed through an act of Congress to allow Saunders’ work to be transferred from the USIA to the Schomburg Center for Black Culture in Harlem, New York. It was only in rare cases that USIA photographs could be published in the United States. It was at this time that Bermudian photographer Graeme Outerbridge arranged for a selection of Saunders’ 30 best black and white works to be printed and sold to the Bermuda National Gallery.

These photographs were last displayed at the Gallery in 1993.