August Sander
(From Wikipedia, the
free encyclopedia)
August Sander (17
November 1876 in Herdorf, Germany; † 20 April 1964 in Cologne) was a
German portrait and documentary photographer.
Sander was the son of a carpenter working in the mining industry. While
working at a local mine, Sander first learned about photography by
assisting a photographer who was working for a mining company. With
financial support from his uncle, he bought photographic equipment and set
up his own darkroom.
He spent his military service (1897 – 1899) as a photographer's assistant,
and the next years wandering across Germany. In 1901, he started working
for a photo studio in Linz, eventually becoming a partner (1902), and then
its sole proprietor (1904). He left Linz at the end of 1909 and set up a
new studio in Cologne.
In the early 1920s, Sander joined the "Group of Progressive Artists" in
Cologne and began plans to document contemporary society in a portrait
series. In 1927, Sander and writer Ludwig Mathar traveled through Sardinia
for three months, where he took around 500 photographs. However, a planned
book detailing his travels was not completed.
Sander's first book Face of our Time was published in 1929. It contains a
selection of 60 portraits from his series People of the 20th Century.
Under the Nazi regime, his work and personal life were greatly
constrained. His son Erich, who was a member of the left wing Socialist
Workers' Party (SAP), was arrested in 1934 and sentenced to 10 years in
prison, where he died in 1944, shortly before the end of his sentence.
Sander's book Face of our Time was seized in 1936 and the photographic
plates destroyed. Around 1942, during World War II, he left Cologne and
moved to a rural area, allowing him to save most of his negatives. His
studio was destroyed in a 1944 bombing raid.
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Bricklayer, 1928
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Young Soldier, Westerwald , 1945
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Country Girls, 1925
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High School Graduate
1926
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Working Musician, Siegerland, Germany
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Notary, 1924
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Circus Workers, 1926
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Circus Artist, 1926
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Young Mother, Middle-Class, 1926
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Peasant Woman of the Westerwald
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Painter Heinrich Hoerle, 1928
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The Dadaist Raoul Hausman, Berlin, 1928
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The Dadaist Raoul Hausmann, Berlin, 1928
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Herbalist, 1929
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The Tenor Leonardo Aramesco, 1928
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Unemployed Man, 1928
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Traveling Mason, 1927
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Travelling Carpenters, Hamburg, 1928
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Innkeeper, 1930
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Village Schoolteacher, 1921
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Girl in Fairground Caravan, 1926
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Coal Carrier, Berlin, 1929
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Boxers, Paul Rцderstein and Hein Hesse,
1928
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Varnisher, 1930
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Blind Children, 1930
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