Africa-Press – Botswana. An exhibition showing some of the early work of an influential post-war photographer has been opened.
Richard Sadler documented life in and around Coventry for more than 60 years, before his death in 2020.
Early success came as a commercial photographer, hired by major businesses in the city including Wimpey, Jaguar, Courtaulds and the Belgrade Theatre, some of which feature in the exhibition.
“It’s nice for my sister and I to share these images,” said his daughter Jane Donovan.
“They’re some of our favourites from his work.”
Richard Sadler’s photographs captured post-war Coventry
Born in Hillfields in 1928 he took up photography when he was about 16, joining the Coventry Photographic Society, explained Ms Donovan.
He eventually set himself up in business with a studio doing the photography for local industries before joining the Belgrade Theatre the year it opened in 1958.
“He amassed an enormous amount of commercial work which, when he died, my sister, Kate and I had to curate and decide what to do with,” she said.
A body of Sadler’s work has been digitised by the city’s Photo Miners project
“We have done an enormous amount of sorting and the majority of it has been given to the Herbert Art Gallery archive,” she added.
Work to identify a lot of the imagry in the collection had been “difficult,” she explained.
“My dad’s system of recording jobs and things was quite eclectic so we had a bit of difficulty trying to sort out what was what and relevant.”
Much of Richard Sadler’s archive has been given to the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum
A body of Sadler’s work has been digitised by Dr Kyneswood and colleagues as part of the Photo Miners project., external
This image of the Locarno Ballroom was taken in 1960
The exhibition runs until February 2023 at Commonground, Fargo Village in Coventry.
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