Girl with Lute

Photography and Media

1927

August Sander
German, 1876–1964

A professional portraitist based in Cologne, Germany, August Sander had already amassed numerous photographs of farmers and peasants in the surrounding region when he decided in the early 1920s to expand his record and expressly document all classes, occupations, and lifestyles in the nation. This monumental undertaking, to which Sander gave the name People of the Twentieth Century, eventually grew to include more than 600 portraits (and thousands of poses) that formed a “physiognomical time exposure of German man,” in the photographer’s words. Remarkably consistent in their lighting and poses, and hung or reproduced in pairs in Sander’s lifetime, the portraits invite comparative analysis, suggesting limitless types rather than the quite limited typecasting espoused by Nazism, which Sander increasingly opposed.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Photography and Media

Artist: August Sander
Title: Girl with Lute
Origin: Germany
Date: Made 1927
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Inscriptions: Blind stamped recto, lower left: "Aug. Sander / Köln / Lindenthal"; inscribed recto, on mount, lower right, below image, in graphite: "Aug. Sander [underlined] / Dec [?] 1927"; printed on label verso, on mount, upper left, black background white print: "AUG SANDER / Lightbildner / Cöln-Lindenthal / Dürenerstr.201"; inscribed verso, on mount, upper right, in graphite: "750-"; verso, on mount, lower left, in graphite: "77"; verso, on mount, lower center, in graphite: "12" [encircled]
Dimensions: 23 × 15.2 c (image/paper); 42.7 × 33.9 cm (mount)
Credit Line: Purchased with funds provided by Phyllis French in memory of Doris A. Weiss
Reference Number: 1976.193

Art Institute of Chicago, “Photographs by August Sander,” December 13, 1975–February 8, 1976.
Chicago, Illinois, Art Institute of Chicago, “A History of Photography from Chicago Collection,” April 24–June 6, 1982.
Evanston, Illinois, Northwestern University, Mary and Leigh Block Gallery, “German Photographs from the 20’s and 30’s,” June 19–August 9, 1987.
Art Institute of Chicago, “The Subject is Music: Photographs from the Permanent Collection,” September 28-December 1, 1996. (Sylvia Wolf)
Art Institute of Chicago, “Of National Interest: Photographs from the Collection,” September 13, 2008–January 11, 2009. (Katherine A. Bussard and Gregory Harris)
Art Institute of Chicago, “Max Kozloff: Critic and Photographer,” October 5, 2013–January 5, 2014. (Michal Raz-Russo)
Art Institute of Chicago, Gallery 189 Permanent Collection Rotation, September 18, 2014-January 4, 2015.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Dress Codes: Portrait Photograps from the Collection,” November 18, 2017–April 22, 2018.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.