Purpose and History

Created in 1988, the Foundation is legally constituted as a private not-for-profit organization , with administrative and financial independence. From its very beginning and to this day, it functions in a house located on the Ladeira da Vila América, in the city of Salvador, Bahia, Pierre Verger’s home for many years.

The Foundation’s Mission

• To preserve, organize, research and disseminate the work of its founder, Pierre Verger.
• To establish and maintain cultural, human and scientific exchanges between Brazil and Africa, especially between Bahia and the Bight of Benin
• To serve as a center of information and research
• To be socially useful in a practical way that is integrated into the local community and adjacent areas

Proposed services

• To make its collection publicly available (library, photo collection and Verger´s personal archives).
• To provide assistance to professionals and researchers who would like to consult Verger´s work.
• To grant permission, when appropriate, to utilize Verger’s photographs. Fees may apply.
• To sell original prints of photogaphs
• To offer free courses and workshops to the population of Bahia, especially residents of the neighborhood of Engenho Velho de Brotas.

History

Created in 1988 by Pierre Verger with the help of a group of friends, the Foundation was directed by him until its death.  The artist Carybé, Verger´s close friend, succeeded him as president. After Carybé’s death in 1997, the artist´s daughter Solange Bernabó occupied the position, until 2001, with the nomination of the Foundation’s third president, Gilberto Pedreira de Freitas Sá.

Verger in his room in Salvador. Photo: Mario Cravo Neto, 1994“The creation of the Pierre Verger Foundation was the result of two of my passions: one that I feel for Bahia and another for the African region along the Bight of Benin. Its goal, as expressed in its mission and activities, is to emphasize their common heritage, offering to Bahia information about Benin and Nigeria and to inform the latter two about their cultural legacy in Bahia,” Verger stated in the FPV’s first newsletter. As founder, staff member and president, he donated his entire personal research collection, accumulated over decades of travels and study, also sustaining the Foundation with his own financial resources. The library contains more than 3,000 books and numerous scholarly articles. The photo archives include 62,000 negatives. The Foundation also possesses many sound recordings, films and videos, and a precious collection of documents, index cards, correspondence, manuscripts and objects.