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20 March 2018 – No.:22763 By Claire Guillot Photography August Sander and the Germans “The Persecuted (Mrs Franken)” COURTESY OF GALLERY JULIAN SANDER/ADAGP Sander photographed both persecuted Jews and Nazis. His work is on display at the Shoah Memorial in Paris. August Sander, Germany from all angles The Shoah Memorial shines a spotlight seven broad groups and 45 portfoli- os, from farmers, artisans, artists, on the political nature of the work of a politicians and civil servants to those often forgotten, like domestics and portraitist who photographed both Jews vagabonds. It is both a work of art and of sociology. Each portrait is a and the Nazis who persecuted them depiction not simply of an individu- al, but a “type”, which is represented Jewish, nor was his work focused on through their face, expression and Photography the genocide. He was, however, a also their clothing, tools and posture. th Using this approach, Sander, with ou would hardly expect to great artist of the 20 century and an unrivalled portrait photographer. his exacting yet sensitive eye, gave us find an exhibition on Ger- some of the great works of the 20th man photographer August His wildly ambitious life's work, Peo- th century: a laborer carrying a pile of Sander (1876-1964) at the ple of the 20 century, was designed Y as a “cross-section of (his) time”. He bricks, a baker as round as his mix- Shoah Memorial in Paris. Although ing bowl, the fragile grace of three his career spanned the turbulent aimed to capture German society in its entirety, through more than 500 young farmers in their Sunday best times of the Weimar Republic and and many more. the Third Reich, Sander was not portraits, systematically divided into 1 20 March 2018 – No.:22763 By Claire Guillot Victims and perpetrators By 1929 Sander had made a name gas vans of the Chelmno extermina- Sophie Nagiscarde and Marie-Edith for himself and his career was on tion camp in Poland. Agostini, curators of the exhibition track: he had published his first book “Persecutors/Persecuted”, focused of 60 superb portraits, Face of Our Stories great and small on the political and social aspects of Time, a precursor to his more ambi- The persecutors also had their por- Sander's work, a choice that resonat- tious project People of the 20th Cen- traits taken by Sander during the ed with the photographer's family. tury. But when Adolf Hitler took war. This would be a new porfolio, According his great-grandson, Julian power in 1933, Sander's progress was entitled “The National Socialist”. Sander, a gallery owner in Cologne, cut short. His work was embarrass- Members of the SS the SA and the “(Sander's) work has been lauded ing to the Nazis. It depicted not only Hitler Youth and regular soldiers for its aesthetic value for so long the dignity of German farmers and posed, sometimes proudly, some- that people have been somewhat the skills of German artisans, but times awkwardly, in their uniforms. blinded by the beauty of the images. also people that the regime would In Sander's portraits, the Nazis could This new approach fits my vision of have rather forgotten, like Romani not be further from Aryan supermen, the arts as being connected with so- travelers and anarchists. The final but nor are they monsters. Instead, ciety.” Indeed, politics and the rise of portrait in the book is of an unem- his photographs, like that of the the Nazi party not only hampered ployed man. In 1936, the book was bored-looking SS Officer, reveal the Sander's career, but directly influ- pulled from sale and the manuscript tragic banality of these human be- enced his work. In the wake of the destroyed. But the highest price was ings. conflict he modified his creation, paid by his son Erich. After joining While, with the help of the Cologne adding four new categories, dis- the resistance, he was betrayed and, National Socialism Documentation played here in their entirety: Political in 1935, condemned to ten years im- Centre, the curators were able to find Prisoners, Immigrant Workers, Na- prisonment for “high treason”. In the names of The Persecuted and tional Socialists and The Persecuted 1943, he died suddenly in prison other Jews photographed by Sander, - Jews from his city, Cologne. from untreated appendicitis. the Nazis photographed have not The exhibition is a success in part been identified. It is worth mention- because the curators chose not to ing that a large section of Sander's submerge the work under contextual His photographs, like archives, which had miraculously details uncovered by their extensive escaped destruction during the research to identify those photo- that of the bored- bombing of Cologne, burned in a fire graphed. Sander's admirable photo- looking SS Officer, re- in 1945, likely due to arson. “In Ger- graphs are left to speak for them- many, no one wants to find any link selves, the models stare out at you veal the tragic banality between themselves and these pho- from crisp prints (for the most part of these human beings tos. But we'd like to know who they developed in the 1990s), often with- are.” says Julian Sander. out explanatory text, while clarifying Beyond its political nature, the ex- documents can be read separately, in The shock of the war was such that, hibition also reveals another, another room. by 1946, Sander felt the need to strangely intimate and moving as- August Sander's art and ideas were adapt his vision, adding portfolios to pect of his work. The portfolio patently never compatible with the his typology of German society. “Political Prisoners”, added after the ideals of National Socialism. In the Those who he would name “The Per- war, is a collection of photographs, 1920s, in Cologne where he estab- secuted” were the first to come to his not taken by August Sander, but by lished his studio, he forged ties with studio. They were Jews, obliged to his son Erich. Having been trained “The Cologne Progressives”, a group obtain photographs for their new by his father and worked in his stu- of Marxist artists, including painter identity papers, which from 1938 on, dio, Erich Sander became the official Franz Wilhelm Seiwert. They posed would be stamped with the mandato- prison photographer, taking identity for him and their art hung on the ry “J”. Sander chose to include a doz- photos of his fellow inmates, but also walls of his apartment. Much of the en of these identity photographs, and clandestine portraits, which he man- group's work was confiscated by the while they may not be among his aged to smuggle out to his parents. It Nazis in 1937 for the notorious greatest portraits, the models' heavy- is understandable then that his fa- “Degenerate Art” exhibition in Mu- hearted expressions arrest the view- ther paid tribute to him after his nich. Sander's house was also a place er. Sad coincidences can be found death by integrating these images for debate and discussion for the between these works and contempo- into his grand work, making them friends of his son Erich, himself rary news reports. Arnold Katz, the his own. deeply politically engaged. In his fa- butcher, is recognizable in a 1933 August Sander never recovered ther's work, Erich is the “student in newspaper photograph, walking from the death of his beloved his son philosophy”, who posed in 1926, taunted through the streets of Co- and artistic heir. One photograph wearing small glasses and a deter- logne, forced by the Nazis to carry shows Sander in his home, portraits mined expression, his fist raised in a signs calling for a boycott of Jewish of Erich surrounding him like a communist salute. businesses. He would later die in the shrine. People of the 20th Century 2 20 March 2018 – No.:22763 By Claire Guillot ends with a strange, funereal image: “August Sander. Persecuted/ the last photo of the final portfolio, Persecutors, People of the 20th entitled “The Last Men”, is of his Century”. The Shoah Memorial, 17 son's death mask. A poignant and rue Geoffroy-l’Asnier, Paris 4th. tragic end to this portrait of German Tel.: 01-42-77-44-72. Open every day society in the wake of chaos. except Saturday, from 10am to 6pm. Late opening Thursdays until 10pm. CLAIRE GUILLOT Free entry. Exhibition clos- es November 15, 2018. Catalogue, co- edited by The Shoah Memorial/ Gerhard Steidl. memorialdelashoah.org “The City. The Persecuted” (1938) “Classes and Professions. The National Socialist” (1940) ADAGP, PARIS. 2018. COURTESY OF GALLERY JULIAN SANDERS ADAGP, PARIS. 2018. COURTESY OF GALLERY JULIAN SANDERS 3 .