Errol Sawyer

Errol Sawyer
File:Errol sawyer.jpg Errol Sawyer in Paris, 1973
Nationality	American
Known for	Photography

Errol Francis Sawyer (born Errol Stanley Sawyer on August 8, 1943) is an American photographer who currently lives and works in Amsterdam, Holland.

Biography

Errol Sawyer was born in Miami, Florida. His parents were Robert Earl Sawyer (1923–94), an African-American playwright, whose family emigrated from Nassau, Bahamas, to Miami, and Mamie Lucille Donaldson, an African-American Cherokee Indian, whose family lived in Bainbridge, Georgia.

In 1950, he moved with his mother and sister from Miami to New York City, and graduated in 1961 from James Monroe High School. From 1962 until 1966 he studied history and political science at New York University. Greenwich Village exposed him to the world of art and culture, and to chess which has to be a lasting passion. Like so many of his contempories, he absorbed the spirit of the Sixties and refers to the profound impact the concert at Woodstock had on him.

Career

In 1968, Sawyer found his vocation as a photographer while traveling in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. He bought his first camera, a Kowa, in 1966 and became a professional photographer in 1971 when he got his first commissions in London. In the beginning of his career he cites photographers James Moore, Bill Silano, Richard Avedon and Gosta Peterson as influences.

In the early 1970s, Sawyer was living and working in Paris and London. His photographs were published in Elle, Dépêche Mode, and French Vogue. In 1973, he discovered model Christie Brinkley, took her first modeling photos, and convinced John Casablancas to accept her at Elite Model Management.

In 1978, Sawyer returned to New York and worked for magazines such as US Vogue and New York Magazine. In the meantime he continued to work on street reportage.

Since 1984, Sawyer has worked on multicultural beauty projects for Vis-A-Vis Magazine. However, most of his time is spent on documentary and fine art photography: naturally lit black and white photographs in the streets of New York, Paris and Amsterdam where he has lived since 1999. According to Sawyer, a picture is good when it leaves room for you to imagine. He photographs people, graffiti, and perspectives in public and semi-public space, at parks, streets and underground stations. His fine art pictures have been published in The Sun, PF Magazine and Filosofie Magazine, Holland.

In 2001 Herman Hoeneveld wrote in the Dutch PF Magazine:

Errol Sawyer could be justifiably called a cultural philosopher — He is a writing photographer, who seems to press for consciousness and contemplation. He calls on our common sense to not allow our feelings to be crushed by the unbridled rush for consumption.

Since 2006, Sawyer has been a guest professor of photography at Technical University Delft in Holland.

Exhibitions

Sawyer has held solo exhibitions at:

• 4th Street Gallery, New York, USA, 1989. Theme Children of East End.
• Royal Photographic Society, Bath, England, 1992. Theme Children of East End.
• La Musée de la Photographie, Bièvre, France, 1991. Theme Paris.
• Foto Huset Gallery, Götenburg, Sweden, 1993. Theme Graffiti.
• No Name Gallery, Basel, Switzerland, 1993. Theme Graffiti.
• La Chambre Claire Gallery, Paris, France, 2000. Theme City Mosaïc.

Collections

• La Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, France, 1974 and 2001. 37 pictures.
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Harlem, New York, 1997. 40 pictures.
• La Musée de la Photographie, Bièvre, France, 1991. 6 pictures.
• Eric Franck Gallery, London, England, 1997. 21 pictures.
• Fadi Zahar, La Chambre Claire Gallery, Paris, France, 2000. 4 pictures.
• Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, 2004. 2 pictures in the Manfred Heiting Collection.
• Victoria & Albert Museum, London. England. Work added to National Art Library Collection, 2005.

External links

• errolsawyer.com - Documentary and Fine Art (requires Flash)
• errolsawyerstudio.com - Beauty and Portrait (requires Flash)

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