August Sander

Dan, Lily and SaraPhotography

Biography

• B. 1876 in Herdorf, Rhine, Germany• D. 1964 in Köln, Germany

• 7 years as miner in Herdorf• 1 year studying painting in Dresden• 1904: founded his own studios

His works

• 1929: ‘Anlitz der Zeit’ (Face of Our Time) published his first book (started it 1910)

Major work

• 1911: ‘Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts’ (People of the 20th Century)

• Categorized his work into: ‘class, profession and relationships’

Style• Neutral background or simple environment• Systematic• Clothes and body language link with origin and

profession of individual• Facial expressions are neutral – Photography: not seen as an art– German history (influence of Nazi regime)

• ‘Nothing is more hateful to me than photography sugar-coated with gimminks, poses and false effects’

Portraiture or Documentary?

• Portraiture: focuses on the person/people’s expression– Photos of people– No or little focus on

background– Posing?

• Documentary: objective photograph of a scene– Real clothing and

habitat – ‘Strict documentation

of his view on Man’

Documentary or Portraiture?

Similar photographers

• Dorothea Lange (1895-1965)• American influential

documentary photographer• ‘I want to take a picture of a

man as he stood in his world’• Iconic image: ‘Migrant

Mother’ (1936)– Depression era

Contemporary works

• Mark Seliger (19 - )• Photographer for Rolling

Stones from 1992-2002• Celebrity portraiture • Chosen black and white

images:– back to basics– pure & simple– less distraction

References• Arnow, J. and Lange, D., 1985. Dorothea Lange. London: Macdonald • Graham, C., 1997. The Photograph. Oxford: Oxford University Press.• Lange, S., Döblin, A. and Heiting, M., 1999. August Sander, 1876 – 1964. Köln:

Taschen. • MoMA – The Museum of Modern Art, 2009. The Collection – August Sander.

[online] Available at: <http://www.moma.org/collection/artist.php?artist_id=5145> [Accessed 23 January 2012]

• Sander, A. and Sander, G., 1973. August Sander: Photographer Extraordinary. London: Thames and Hudson.

• The Economist, 2009. The photographs of August Sander – Twentieth-century man (A photographer who believed he was enabling self-portraits). [online] Available at: <http://www.economist.com/node/14302314> [Accessed 23 January 2012]