The August Sander Zyklus (cycle)

Exhibition cycle: January 7 through December 24, 2014

"see, observe, think and all the questions will be answered!" - August Sander

This quote is from a text August Sander wrote in 1927. It has been a challenge to me my entire life, something to live into. What I see is that August Sander was able to capture the sitters he photographed without impressing his person into the image. It requires a great deal of human understanding, and an even greater portion of self belief and humility to enable 1000's of people in all walks of life to show themselves. They must have had a sense of meaning and of safety, be they a soldier, a beggar or a mother. This is what set August Sander apart. He was able to create an environment where the sitter was free to show him or herself in all honesty. And he was there to capture that at just the right moment.

Being the first person in my family to have seen the entire 619 photographs from "Menschen des 20te Jahrhundert" on the wall together at the Sao Paulo Bienalle in 2012, I feel strongly that the project was designed as a way to see humanity in its entirety by looking at a small yet complex subset called the German people. The photographs show a society in transition from a cast system through 2 world wars into a new economy that exists to this day.

The imprint this experience left on me is so deep and longstanding that I have decided to dedicate my gallery to showing this entire body of work in 2014. We will start with "Anlitz der Zeit" in a limited edition of prints made by my father and his assistant Jean Luc Differdange in 1989 in honour of the 150 birthday of the invention of photography by Louis Daguerre on January 7, 1839. Following that we will present each group from the 7 groups in the 7 volumes of “People of the 20th Century", each in turn. I am calling this the August Sander Zyklus (cycle).

Julian Sander, Owner of Feroz Gallery