An image is not available here yet.
View at the museum ↗Wife of the Cologne Painter Peter Abelen (Gattin des Kölner Malers Peter Abelen)
August Sander1926
- Attribution
- August Sander (German, 1876–1964) possibly printed by Gerd Sander (German, active 20th century)
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Physical dimensions
- 35.5 × 25.7 cm (14 × 10 1/8 in.)
- Credit line
- Gift of Robert A. Taub
Museum metadata is available under CC0. Image availability and rights are separate; consult the source record.
Source rights statement: © Die Photographische Sammlung / SK Stiftung Kultur – August Sander Archiv Köln / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
View the museum record ↗From the museum
A professional portraitist based in Cologne, August Sander (German, 1876–1964) had already amassed numerous photographs of farmers and peasants in the surrounding region when he decided in the early 1920s to expand his record and expressly document all classes, occupations, and lifestyles in the nation. This monumental undertaking, to which Sander gave the name People of the Twentieth Century, eventually grew to include more than 600 portraits (and thousands of poses) that formed a “physiognomical time exposure of German man,” in the photographer’s words. Remarkably consistent in their lighting and poses, and hung or reproduced in pairs in Sander’s lifetime, the portraits invite comparative analysis, suggesting limitless types rather than the quite limited typecasting espoused by Nazism, to which Sander grew increasingly opposed.
Description: Art Institute of Chicago · CC BY 4.0