A question about Sander

[domenico Foschi]

I have been studying ASander's work for a while ( it never stops fascinating me ).
I have often wondered what lenses he used , and my guessing has narrowed the choice to two lenses : Heliar or Dagor, or maybe both.
Does anybody know?

[John Sarsgard]

I don't know, but I share your admiration of Sander's work, and find that it is influencing my own very much. Could you share your favorite sources of Sander information, including websites? thanks!

[tim atherton]

Have you looked at the recent huge multi-volume publication of his project? I saw it for sale at a comparatively decent price a while back (considering how big it is).

Produced in conjunction with his son/grandson?

[jim Ryder]

From August Sander publ. by Taschen, 1999 p. 108 "in a letter of 1925 to Prof. Stenger [Sander] wrote, 'In order to achieve a clear pure photograhy, I use Zeiss lenses, an orthochromatic plate and corresponding light filter and clear fine grained glossy paper. I make my photos on 12x161/2 or 13x18 plates enlarging them to 18x24. "

[robert_4927]

I am a big fan of low key portraiture. As it is the style i prefer to work in....much more dramatic to me. Sanders portraits of the peasant woman and the taxi driver are some of the best I've every seen. But to me what made Sanders so special was his uncanny ability to capture the human condition.

[Ole Tjugen]

If he used Zeiss lenses, I'll make a wild guess at Tessar Serie Ic f:3.5. Very sharp centrally, less coverage than the better known Serie IIb f:4.5 which is what most of us think of as just "Tessar".

Maybe I should try the one I have? I bought a 150mm/f:3.5 a while ago - it was sold as "old shutter with glass in", and I bought it for the lensboard it was mounted on (!). Turned out the lens looked great, so I'm still looking for another lensboard for Compur #2!

[Mark Sampson]

If you like August Sander, you might enjoy the work of Evelyn Hofer. Try "Dublin: A Portrait" or "London Percieved".

[Ben Calwell]

I'm glad Evelyn Hofer was mentioned. Her work is truly wonderful.

[adrian tyler]

why not ask his studio?

august sander archiv, cologne

[John Kasaian]

"Verrrry interestink! " as Artie Johnson would say.

I wonder if anyone is working on a project entitled People of the Twentyfirst Century? What an idea---who are we 21st Centurians, what do we do and what do we look like? A Sander didn't start his project until the 1920's right? I guess it will take a couple of decades before we can see what the true 21st Centurian will look like since we could still be mistaken for 20th Centurians. The new model will probably have one big eye the size of computer monitor and Starbucks coffee stained teeth;-) It reminds me of the facinating prints of biological specimens I saw awhile back in View Camera magazine, only this time its with people.

Perhaps I'm being unfair, but my impression of Sander's portraits is that they are beautiful but unnerving. Genuine but disturbing. Maybe in my mind I can't seperate the political realities from the photographic that Sander does such a good job with. I guess its sort of like discovering that your mother is a drunken floozy.

[robert_4927]

John, As I said before, Sanders genius was in his ability to capture the Human condition. And I think he may agree with you, at times that condition can be unnerving and disturbing. So I think by you feeling this way Sanders has accomplished exactly what he set out to do.

[domenico Foschi]

It could be a tessar, although someone does't expect such sharpness from this lens.
John yours was the inpression i got in the beginning looking at Sanders work , but then i started to see a lot of love for the subjects, seen as human beings many times victims of social oor political rules. I saw a lot of compassion, look at the kids in nazi uniform, the peasants dressed with their sunday clothings. Many understand his work as documentation of the German Society in the 20s 30s and 40s , i see it at a more universal level.
Thank you for the responses.

[John Kasaian]

domenico,

Sander's portraits keep drawing me back for another look, thats for sure! I do see the humanity Sanders captured. The photo of the emaciated farmer recollected the graphic photos of prison camp survivors. The same look in their eyes almost. The political prisoner is an image that haunts me, while the Falstaff-like prussian(?) policeman with the moustache looks like it escaped from a time warp. I have to agree with robert---if these portraits were meant to be unsettling, Sanders did a great job, and to photograph that many portraits and have each one tell a unique story, that surely is genius. I'm guess I'm seeing Sanders work as a documentary that collides with humanity. Thanks for this thread, domenico. Sanders is certainly an interesting photographer with an intriging portfolio.

[Aaron_3437]

Evelyn Hofer. Wow! Just seen some of her photographs. Why haven't I heard of her before? What a great photographer she is. What camera format does she use?