August Sander 1876-1964

1. August Sander1876-1964 The father of modern portrait photography

2. Sander’s life history • Born 1876 in Herdorf, Germany, into a family of peasant farmers and miners • From an early age he was determined to be a photographer • Spent his military service (1897-99) as a photographer’s assistant and then worked in a photographer’s studio • Opened his own studio in Cologne in 1909

3. Aims and ambitions • He wanted to be known for “simple, natural portraits that show the subjects in an environment corresponding to their own individuality, portraits that claim the right to be evaluated as works of art and to be used as wall ornaments.” • In 1920, he joined the ‘Group of Progressive Artists’ and began plans to document contemporary society in a portrait series. This would become his renowned ‘People of the 20th Century’

4. Sander’s contribution to portrait photography • Sander is considered by many to be the ‘father’ of modern portrait photography. The key aspects to his work were: - he always advocated ‘straight’ rather than manipulated imagery - ‘simple’ and ‘truthful’ images - allowed his subjects to be themselves

5. People of the 20th Century • Sander was keen to create a record of all levels of society in Germany during the 1920s and so began documenting them for his People of the 20th Century work. Face of Our Time, published in 1929 contained 60 of these shots • This became Sander’s best known body of work

6. Shots from People of the 20th Century Bricklayer (1928) Young Girl in Circus Wagon (1926)

7. Shots from People of the 20th Century (continued) Pastry Cook (1928) Gypsy (c.1930)

8. Sander in Nazi Germany • Sander and his family suffered under Nazi rule in Germany: • his son Erich was arrested in 1934 for anti-Nazi activities and died in a Nazi prison in 1944 • all printing blocks of his ‘Face of our Time’ publication were smashed in 1936 and books seized because they portrayed a Germany other than the Aryan ideal • he moved to a rural area but his studio was destroyed by Allied bombing raids in 1944 • only 11,000 of his 30,000+ negatives still survive.

9. How will I ‘follow’ August Sander? • Portrait photography has always been one of my loves. The father of modern portrait photography was a natural choice for me to ‘follow’ • I particularly like his statement that he wanted his subjects to be in an environment that corresponds to their own individuality. This statement is what I want to base the idea for my work on

10. Planning how to ‘follow’ • My self-set brief is to: photograph people in portrait style, with the item that they treasure the most in the part of their house they treasure the most • This will: provide a shot where the environment corresponds to the subject’s individuality; provide a ‘direct’ and ‘simple’ shot; ‘follow’ August Sander by creating a series of images in which the subjects are looking straight at the camera.