- August Sander: People of the Twentieth CenturyBy August Sander
- August Sander: Face of Our TimeBy August Sander
- August Sander: Voir, Observer, PenserBy Anges Sire
- August SanderOur PickBy Susanna Lange
- Objective RomanticBy George Stevens
- August Sander: Seeing, Observing, Thinking: PhotographsBy Gabriele Conrath-Scholl
Important Art by August Sander
Young Farmers (1914)
Forming part of a series on rural people residing in the low mountain region of Westerwald, Young Farmers (Jungbauern) was taken by Sander in 1914, shortly before he joined the medical corps at the outbreak of the first World War. Arguably his most analyzed image, it was first published in Sander's Face of Our Time collection in 1929, and again, posthumously, in his magnum-opus People of the Twentieth Century.
In the image, three suited young men are seen walking along a rural path, probably on their way to a dance. The men look directly at Sander, yet their bodies are turned away from his camera. This suggests that Sander caught his subjects unexpectedly, or in mid-stride. But that proposition seems a little incongruous when one considers the length of exposure time required of the large format, glass plate camera that Sander used. However, the fact that the subjects posed for the camera - probably aping poses seen in men's apparel and tobacco advertisements - does nothing to distract from the fact that the men's attire defied the archetypal provincial peasant portrait. Indeed, when taking into consideration the time the photograph was taken, and the barren rural landscape in which the young men are pictured, the Marxist art critic John Berger suggested that Sander's image perfectly captured a new generation of country type. Young farmers were now within easy reach of 'aspirational advertising campaigns' and 'travelling salesmen' thus allowing them to 'emulate the higher quality attire of the bourgeois urban class'.
Matter (c. 1925-7)
The volume People of the Twentieth Century featured more than 500 images. Young Farmers belonged to the first, introductory, category ('The Farmer'), while Matter featured in the last, closing, category ('The Last People'). 'The Last People' is focused on those who occupied the margins of society: namely the elderly, the infirm, the disabled and the mentally impaired. This is one of two portraits, both bearing the title 'Matter', of deceased subjects. In this serene image an elderly woman is shown in profile on her deathbed. The image might allude in some way to the theme of the cycle of life. However, Sander's unambiguous, matter-of-fact, approach to his work suggests that its meaning might be rather more prosaic with Sander simply forcing his audience to confront head-on the inevitability of death. However, when considered in relation to his bigger sociological project, through which he was commenting upon the societal role of the individual in 20th century Germany, the title 'Matter' would seem to suggest that once we lose our value to society we become no more than a collection of particles ('matter') from which no further societal value can be subsumed.
The Painter's Wife (Helene Abelen) (c. 1926)
In 1926, the artist Peter Abelen, having become acquainted with Sander through their shared association with the Cologne Progressive Artists Group, approached the photographer with the view of making a portrait of his wife, Helene (Abelen). Though the portrait is titled The Painter's Wife Helene's pose is defiantly androgynous. Her slicked-back hair is pulled tightly across her head and Helene grips a cigarette between her teeth. She wears a fitted white shirt, a narrow dark tie and black belt, and baggy white trousers with casual white footwear. She is almost luminous when set against the muted tones of the interior walls; on which, presumably, the works of her painter husband are hung. Helene's gaze is active - confrontational one might say - since she acknowledges the camera (and photographer) by looking beyond it (him, and us).
The Painter's Wife alludes to the changing position of women in 1920s German society. In this image in particular we see the idea of the 'new woman' that gained traction during the liberating Weimar years (1919-1933). The 'new woman' was freer than previous generations of German women, with growing willingness and freedom to abandon the domestic space in favor of a place in the public labor force. Concurrently, 'old' ideas about femininity and dress codes were challenged with modern women increasingly adopting trousers as a more practical way of dressing. Seen in this context, Sander's image captures in time and place an important historical juncture in the societal position of women under the liberal Weimar administration.
Influences and Connections

- Julia Margaret Cameron
- Alfred Stieglitz
- Edward Steichen
- Oscar G. Rijlander
- George Grosz
- Marta Hegeman
- Anton Räderscheidt
- Alfred Döblin
- Franz W. Seiwert
- New Objectivity
- Social Realism
- Art Photography
- Pictorial Photography
- Bernd and Hilla Becher
- Walker Evans
- Dorothea Lange
- Diane Arbus
- Rineke Dijkstra
- Otto Dix
- Edward Steichen
- George Grosz
- Franz W. Seiwert
- Marta Hegemann