Thursday, April 5, 2007

August Sanders, the man, the photos.




August Sander

August Sander was born on November 17, 1876 to a carpenter in the mining industry in Germany. He began his Photography career as a photographer’s assistant who was also with the mining company. After becoming very interested in the subject he borrowed enough money from his uncle to set up his own his own darkroom and buy the proper equipment. He spent some time doing his photography and when he served in the German military from 1897 to 1899 he served as a photographer’s assistant. After his time in the military he spent some time traveling across Germany.

In 1901, Sander settled down in the town of Graz and started working in a photographer’s studio. After a few years he became the sole proprietor of the studio. But left in 1910 to set up his new studio in Cologne. In 1927, Sander and writer Ludwig Marthar went on a trip to travel through Sardinia for three months taking over 500 photos on his way.

During the NAZI rule of Germany, August found that his work and form of expression were severely limited due to the strict control of the government. Sander’s son Erich was arrested during this time for being a member of the left wing Socialist Worker’s Party in Germany. He died in prison in 1944 shortly before the end of his sentence. At the outbreak of the Second World War Sander moved to a rural region of the country, but his studio was destroyed anyway by an allied bombing raid in 1944.

August Sander is most well known for his portraits of the German people during the reign of the Weimar Republic. He used a method of showing the divided classes of society in his pictures.

1 comment:

jenn said...

Nice work Cody- do you have a favorite image?