In 1911, a 35-year-old man decides to document his century: “the portrait is your mirror. No, it’s more: it’s you”.
The first street photographer, August Sander captures every man: the Farmer, the Artist, the Craftsman. Inordinate scale, immeasurable influence – 50 years, 7 volumes, 50 portfolios, 600 pictures.
Always in black and white, his portraits strike by their brutal honesty. Photography does not show the truth, it is the truth. Asceticism of the work, asceticism of the dress.
Worries, gestures, habits: the short leg of a pair of trousers suggests the fear of mud, the crease of a shirt, an artist’s poverty.
Young men’s hats, not yet dented; the crease near the crotch of the cyclists’ trousers: wear and tear; pianist Max van de Sandt’s high collar: performance.
Weighed down by pockets full of ointments, he pharmacist’s end-on-end suit and its drooping lapels; practical for demanding gestures, the farmer’s wide armhole, Helene Abelen’s white sarouel: androgynous absolute.
The embarrassment of the young businessman, forced to hold his hands due to the height of his coat; the high-school student’s nonchalance, hand deep in his patch pockets; the height of the Bohemian’s waist and the weather-beaten spacing of his stripe.
Arid and appealing, August Sander’s work does not show its time, it is its time.
Farmer. 1913.
Gypsy. 1930.
High-School Student. 1926.
Industrial Magnate. 1927.
Painter’s Wife. 1926.
Pharmacist. 1930.
The Pianist.
Three Farmers on their Way to a Dance. 1914.
The Rite of Spring. 1975.
Young Businessman. 1927.
Young Farmers. 1926.
- THE DOUBLE-BREASTED SUIT
« He had on a double-breasted suit of the type then known as the pillbox; it was chalk-striped, pink on blue » - LAPELS
« Trends in lapel size often mirror the economic climate: during World War II, lapels initially became smaller due to fabric shortages » - COOPER X 12
« Dressed up like a million-dollar trouper/Tryin’ hard to look like Gary Cooper/Super Duper – Puttin’ on the Ritz » - OUTER POCKETS
« It wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that sewn-on pockets, and pockets hidden within the liningfabric that is used inside a garment, became standard in clothing… »