August Sander

Posted by Fabio 25 August 2011

August Sander was a German portrait and documentary photographer. He has been described as the most important German portrait photographer of the early twentieth century. His work includes landscape, nature, architecture, and street photography, but he is best known for his portraits, as exemplified by his series People of the 20th Century. In this series, he aims to show a cross-section of society during the Weimar Republic. The series is divided into seven sections: The Farmer, The Skilled Tradesman, Woman, Classes and Professions, The Artists, The City, and The Last People (homeless persons, veterans, etc.). By 1945, Sander’s archive included over 40,000 images.

Sander died in Cologne in April 1964.