© August Sander
In the 1920s, August Sander conceived of The People of the 20th Century, a seven-volume series that would encapsulate the face of the times, and to this project he dedicated the better part of his life. Focused on creating a general cross-section of the German population, Sander’s seven groups included “The Farmer,” “The Skilled Tradesman,” “The Woman,” “Classes and Professions,” “The Artists,” “The City,” and on the topic of age, illness, and death, “The Last People.”
April 20 marks the 50th anniversary of Sander’s death, and to honor the artist’s legacy, Schirmer Mosel presents for the a single volume of the seven-volume edition. With 619 duotone plates, People of the 20th Century is a comprehensive portrait of a people at a time and a place that no artists before or since has created. Taken as a whole, Sander gives us a distinctly German take on his native land, a look that is organized into a social, economic, political, and cultural history of an entire epoch.
Sander’s gift was bring able to see the relationship between the individual and the group, the way in which they informed and shaped identity to maximize result. His ability to understand the intuitive purpose of people as characters in their own right, and of a larger community that serve the group enhances Sander’s ability to render context in clear but understated effect. The result is one that is effortless, as though the fingerprints of the photographer never appeal on the print, as though each and every subject was willing to meet Sander in a space where the formalities of the portrait were mutually agreed to be maintained.
Read the Full Story at
L’OEIL DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE
© August Sander
