Farming Family

August Sander

c. 1910

Gelatin silver print

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A formal outdoor portrait shows a group of eight people, likely a family, posing for the camera. The individuals are dressed in dark, formal attire typical of the early 20th century. A formal outdoor portrait shows a group of eight people, likely a family, posing for the camera. The individuals are dressed in dark, formal attire typical of the early 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, in his studio and around Cologne, Germany, August Sander (1876 – 1964) photographed every type of person he came across, in an attempt to capture the then-changing and diverse German society as a whole, in a project entitled “People of the 20th Century.” This endeavor is largely considered to be one of the most monumental collective portraits created in photographic history. Sander presented each of his subjects as entirely indiv