Family Group, Westerwald

August Sander

c. 1905

Gelatin silver print (printed by Gunther Sander)

Minneapolis Institute of Art

A formal outdoor portrait shows a multi-generational family of nine, including a baby and a dog, posed in front of trees. A formal outdoor portrait shows a multi-generational family of nine, including a baby and a dog, posed in front of trees. 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 individual within their respective categories: Farmers, Workers, W