~ Article by Mia-Daniel Bester
Here’s an impressive collection of some of Old Master Photographer, August Sander’s lifelong photography project – The People In The Twentieth Century…
“By sight and observation and thought, with the help of the camera, and the addition of the date of the year, we can hold fast the history of the world”
August Sander
He believed in honest and true photography, the kind that holds depths of memories and stories, told by not only his subject in the frame but by his inspiration to capture the essence of life in a timed exposure…
He was born in Herdorf, Germany, the year was 1876. In 1892, August received his first, a 13 x18 cm camera. It was as if he had met with destiny on the way to an “already” scheduled interview… He built a darkroom and explored the nature of photography. After his military service, August toured Germany as a commercial photographer, adopting and nursing the traits of Architectural-and-Industrial Photography. In 1901 found himself employed at the Photographic Studio Graf in Linz, Austria. He and a partner bought the studio and unveiled the Sander & Stuckenberg.
The following year he bought out his partner and started his own studio, August Sander Studio for Pictorial Arts of Photography and Painting.
He started his enormous project, People In The Twentieth Century when he sold his studio, first moved to Trier and then settled in Lindenthall, Cologne. A nearby city, Westerwald gave birth to this project, here he started to photograph peasants. His objective? To document all of Germany’s people. He sustained this by continuing to take Architectural and Industrial photographs.
August Sander received numerous awards in his lifetime as a photographer, especially being named an honorary member of the German Photographic Society in 1958. In 1960, he received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
He suffered a stroke in 1963 and passed away some months later…
“Nothing is more hateful to me than photography sugar-coated with gimmicks, poses and false effects” ~ August Sander
“The field in which photography has so great a power of expression that language can never approach it is physiognomy” ~ August Sander
Did you know? August Sander published five books between 1933 and 1934 – which were all disapproved by Nazi authorities. His plates were destroyed and negatives confiscated by Ministry of Culture.
“In photography, there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated” ~ August Sander
“I never made a person look bad. They do that themselves. The portrait is your mirror. It’s you” ~August Sander
Did you know? Edward Steichen chose a number of August’s photographs for inclusion in the Family Of Man Show…
Did you know? In 1951, Sander’s work was mounted at the first exhibition at Photokina.
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This is very informative, inspirational and well written!