Editing Pierre Verger

{{Short description|French photographer, anthropologist, writer and professor (1902–1996)}}
[[File:Pierrer Verger 1952.jpg|thumb|Auto-portrait of Pierre Verger (1952)]]

'''Pierre Edouard Leopold Verger''', alias '''Fatumbi''' or '''Fátúmbí''' (4 November 1902, in [[Paris]] &ndash; 11 February 1996, in [[Salvador, Bahia|Salvador]], Brazil) was a [[photography|photographer]], self-taught [[ethnography|ethnographer]], and ''[[babalawo]]'' ([[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] priest of [[Ifà]]) who devoted most of his life to the study of the [[Africa]]n diaspora &mdash; the [[History of slavery|slave trade]], the African-based religions of the new world, and the resulting cultural and economical flows from and to Africa.<ref>Carole Cusack, Alex Norman Handbook of New Religions and Cultural Production  2012- Page 480 "... were the french anthropologists Pierre Verger (1902–1996) and [[Roger Bastide]] (1898–1974), who both turned out to be a kind of 'culture hero' for both Candomblé and the afro-brazilian people."</ref>

==Life==
At the age of 30, after losing his family, Pierre Verger took up the career of journalistic photographer. Over the next 15 years, he traveled the four continents, documenting many civilizations that would soon be effaced by progress. His destinations included Tahiti (1933); United States, Japan, and China (1934 and 1937); [[Italy]], [[Spain]], Sudan (now [[Mali]]), [[Niger]], [[French Upper Volta|Upper Volta]], [[Togo]] and [[Dahomey]] (now [[Benin]], 1935); the [[West Indies]] (1936); Mexico (1937, 1939, and 1957); the [[Philippines]] and [[Indochina]] (now [[Thailand]], [[Laos]], [[Cambodia]] and [[Vietnam]], 1938); [[Guatemala]] and [[Ecuador]] (1939); [[Senegal]] (as a conscript, 1940); [[Argentina]] (1941), [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]] (1942 and 1946); and finally [[Brazil]] (1946).  His photographs were featured in magazines such as ''[[Paris-Soir]]'', ''[[Daily Mirror]]'' (under the pseudonym of "Mr. Lensman"), ''[[Life Magazine|Life]]'', and ''[[Paris Match]]'', and in 1955 his graphic composition of three women bearing vases of flowers on turbaned heads was selected by curator [[Edward Steichen]] for MoMA's 1955 world-touring ''[[The Family of Man]]'' exhibition, seen by 9 million visitors.<ref>{{Citation|author1=Steichen, Edward|title=The family of man : the photographic exhibition|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/10809600|publication-date=1955|publisher=Published for the Museum of Modern Art by Simon and Schuster in collaboration with the Maco Magazine Corporation|author2=Steichen, Edward, 1879-1973, (organizer.)|author3=Sandburg, Carl, 1878-1967, (writer of foreword.)|author4=Norman, Dorothy, 1905–1997, (writer of added text.)|author5=Lionni, Leo, 1910-1999, (book designer.)|author6=Mason, Jerry, (editor.)|author7=Stoller, Ezra, (photographer.)|author8=Museum of Modern Art (New York, N.Y.)}}</ref> 

In the city of Salvador, Brazil he fell in love with the place and people, and decided to stay for good. Having become interested in the local history and culture, he turned from errant photographer to a researcher of the African diaspora in the Americas. His subsequent voyages are focused on that goal: the west coast of Africa and [[Paramaribo]] (1948), [[Haiti]] (1949), and  Cuba (1957). After studying the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] culture and its influences in [[Brazil]], Verger became an initiate of the [[Candomblé]] religion, and officiated at its rituals.  During a visit to [[Benin]], he was initiated into [[Ifá]] (''ikin'' divination), became a ''[[babalawo]]'' (priest) of [[Orunmila]], and was renamed ''Fátúmbí'' ("he who is reborn through the Ifá oracle").

Veger's contributions to ethnography are embodied in dozens of conference papers, journal articles and books,<ref>
  {{cite book
  | author = Pierre Verger
  | title = Note sur le culte des orisha e vodoun à Bahia de Tous les Saints au Brésil et à l'ancienne Côte des Esclaves; republished in 1982 by [[Corrupio]], Brazil  | series = Memoire 
  | issue = 51
  | publisher = IFAN, [[Dakar]], Senegal
  | language = French
  | year = 1951}}
</ref><ref>
  {{cite book 
  | author = Pierre Verger
  | title = Fluxo e Refluxo do tráfico de escravos entre o golfo de Benin e a Bahia de Todos os Santos
  | publisher = Corrupio
  | language = Portuguese
  | year = 1985}}
</ref><ref>
  {{cite book
  | author = Pierre Verger
  | title = Ewé, o uso de plantas na sociedade ioruba
  | publisher = Odebrecht and [[Companhia das Letras]], Brazil
  | year = 1995
  | language = Portuguese |translator=English, English Editor: Doig Simmonds}}
</ref> and were recognized by [[Sorbonne University]], which conferred upon him a doctoral degree (''Docteur 3eme Cycle'') in 1966 &mdash; quite a feat for someone who dropped out of high school at 17.

Verger  continued to study and document his chosen subject right until his death in Salvador, at the age of 93. During that time he became a professor at the [[Federal University of Bahia]] in 1973, where he was responsible for the establishment of the [[Afro-Brazilian Museum]] in Salvador; and served as visiting professor at the [[Obafemi Awolowo University|University of Ifé]] in [[Nigeria]]. The non-profit {{ill|Pierre Verger Foundation|pt|Fundação Pierre Verger}} in Salvador, which he established to continue his work, holds more than 63,000 photos and negatives taken until 1973, as well as his papers and correspondence.

His life has been documented in a book by Jérôme Souty<ref>
  {{cite book
  | author = Jérôme Souty
  | title = Pierre Fatumbi Verger. Du Regard Détaché à la Connaissance Initiatique
  | publisher = Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris
  | year = 2007
  | pages = 520 
  | language = French}}                                             ; 

  
Jérôme Souty (2011) (in Portuguese) ''Pierre Fatumbi Verger. Do Olhar livre ao conhecimento iniciatico'', Terceiro Nome, São Paulo, 446 p.</ref> and a movie.<ref>Pierre Fatumbi Verger: ''Mensageiro Entre Dois Mundos''. Movie, Brazil (1998).</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
		
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040423212938/http://www.revuenoire.com/francais/Livres/LivresSoleil/DieuxVerger/LS-verger.html Dieux D'Afrique - prefaces] {{in lang|fr}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040413034434/http://www.pierreverger.org.br/br/fundacao/apresentacao.htm Pierre Verger Foundation, Salvador] {{in lang|pt}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040324195448/http://www.pierreverger.org.br/textos/texto_luhning.htm Pierre Fatumbi Verger and his works] {{in lang|pt}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040403182542/http://www.corrupio.com.br/verger-p.htm Pierre Fatumbi Verger by Cida Nóbrega] {{in lang|pt}}

{{ACArt}}



{{DEFAULTSORT:Verger, Pierre Edouard Leopold}}
[[Category:Photographers from Paris]]
[[Category:French emigrants to Brazil]]
[[Category:1902 births]]
[[Category:1996 deaths]]
[[Category:French Candomblés]]
[[Category:Babalawos]]
[[Category:Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University]]
[[Category:French ethnographers]]
[[Category:French expatriates in the United States]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Japan]]
[[Category:French expatriates in China]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Italy]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Spain]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Benin]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Mexico]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Cambodia]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Bolivia]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Argentina]]
[[Category:Expatriates in Guatemala]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Ecuador]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Thailand]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Peru]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Niger]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Haiti]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Senegal]]
[[Category:French expatriates in Nigeria]]
[[Category:Anthropologists of the Yoruba]]
[[Category:20th-century French anthropologists]]
[[Category:20th-century French explorers]]
[[Category:20th-century French photographers]]
[[Category:Brazilianists]]
[[Category:Explorers from Paris]]