by
Sandro Pintus
"Photography has no shadows"
An exhibition of photos by August Sander at Alinari
Who could have a better guide than Gerd Sanders, August's grandson, who
is also a photographer, like his father before him. The 190 beautiful
black and white photos are on show for the first time in Italy in this
exhibition at the Fratelli Alinari Photography Museum in Florence until
January 15th and I had the unexpected luck to be taken around by Gerd
himself.
The cover of the catalogue of the
exhibition |
The portraits, hung in four rooms which should be toured in a clock-wise
direction, start out by illustrating the world of the peasant farmer and
that of the working man, these are followed by the trades connected with
the arts, such as music, painting and photography, including a self-portrait
of the author, described simply as a "Photographer" in the caption beneath
it, as well as of the Jews who were persecuted by the Nazis. All the photographs
come from the Sander archives in Cologne, and are a historical and sociological
view of the German society of the period, forming part of what the author
called the "Men of the 20th century" project. One of the photos, the "Visit
of the President in his car", seems to be rather out of place. Gerd explains
that it is in fact the only journalistic photograph his grandfather ever
took. He then points out "Political prisoner", an extremely expressive
close-up, and explains that the photo was taken by his uncle, also a photographer,
when he was in prison, and of whom we can also see his self-portrait in
his cell. He was a doctor and, as he was also a photographer, he had to
take pictures of the prisoners. These photographs have been included in
the exhibition because they also form part of the August Sander's project.
In the centre of the last room we can see his photographs of nature, botanical
studies and views of the Rhine and human intervention as well as the photomontage
cards Sander used to send to his friends and acquaintances to wish them
a happy new year. However one of Gerd Sander's favourite photographs is
the last one we can see in the exhibition: a portrait of an old lady on
her death bed which his grandfather, with extreme simplicity and respect,
called "Matter". The cycle of life comes to a conclusion. An exhibition
that should not be missed.foto© August Sander Archiv/SK-Stiftung
Kultur, Köln; VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 1996.
See also: an Interview with Gerd Sander
FAN-Florence
ART News
by
Silvia Messeri & Sandro Pintus
|
