August Sander

August Sander first learned of photography when he was working in a local mine. He began to assist a photographer who was working for a mining company. With the help of financial support, he was able to buy his own equipment and even set up his own darkroom. After being another assitant to a photographer in the military and then wandering around Germany for several years, Sander joined the “Group of Progressive Artists”.  Here, he set plans for a series of portraits. Sadly, even after completely over 500 different photographs of cotemporary society, he project was never finished. However, this was a great kick-start for him as a photographer and especially in his portraits.

Face of our Time was August Sander’s first book. It contained a series of 60 portraits from a series he did called People of the 20^th Century. Working under the Nazi regime, not only his work but also his personally life was very restricted. Several of his works were destroyed and his studio was even lost in a bombing raid. Some of his portraits, however, were saved to sill be seen today.

I am usually not one for portraits. I think they are pretty boring and have very little to offer. Sander’s portraits are different in my opinion. I feel like I can look and learn so much from just a simple photo. Some of his photographs are even haunting with the subjects that are portrayed. There is just something very special about his works that I can’t put my finger on. Perhaps it is the fact that I know how old the pictures are, and the people portrayed in them have long been deceased. Or maybe it is the history behind August Sander himself. He had very little to no teaching on photography; he was only assistants to other photographers. I think this makes his photographs very original in a subtle way. At first glance it appears to be just an old portrait of some old guy, but with a closer look we can see emotion and a story behind the whole picture. 

http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artMakerDetails?maker=1786

http://www.andrewsmithgallery.com/exhibitions/augustsander/