AUGUST SANDER (German, 1876-1964) WESTPHALIAN FA

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR, NEW MEXICO

PROVENANCE
With Sonnabend Gallery, NEW YORK, 1972

LITERATURE
Abrams, AUGUST SANDER: PEOPLE OF THE 20TH CENTURY, VOL. I THE FARMER, 2002, p. 189

LOOK, OBSERVE AND THINK
AND THE QUESTION IS ANSWERED.

NOTHING SEEMED MORE APPROPRIATE TO ME THAN TO RENDER THROUGH
PHOTOGRAPHY A PICTURE OF OUR TIMES WHICH IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE TO
NATURE.

…SO ALLOW ME TO BE HONEST AND TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR AGE AND
ITS PEOPLE.
August Sander, "My Confession of Faith in Photography," written November 1927 (c.f. National Portrait Gallery, London, AUGUST SANDER, 1996, p. 21)

HOW DO YOU BOOK YOUR PLACE IN AN AUGUST SANDER PHOTOGRAPH? … YOU SHOULD BE A FARMER, PERHAPS, WITH A RUTTED FACE AND A WRINKLED COAT, HEADING OFF TO CHURCH ALONG A DIRT ROAD IN THE WESTERWALD, THE REGION OUTSIDE COLOGNE, SOMETIME AROUND 1925. THAT IS HOW SANDER SEES YOU, AN D THAT IS HOW HE WANTS YOU TO REMAIN: FULL LENGTH IN THE FRAME FROM THE HAZY AIR ABOVE YOUR TOP HAT TO THE SHINE ON YOUR TOE CAPS. HE LIKES THE WAY YOU COCK YOUR HAND AGAINST YOUR HIP, LIKE THE HANDLE OF A CUP; NEITHER FEY NOR JAUNTY, BUT AS THOUGH YOU WERE PROPPING YOURSELF UP. AFTER ALL, HE HAS ALREADY NOT ICED THE FATIGUE IN THE GROOVES AROUND YOUR MOUTH AND THE SKIN THAT SAGS OVER THE FAR CORNERS OF YOUR EYES. AS SO OFTEN WITH SANDER, THERE IS NEXT TO NOTHING BEHIND YOU – A GRAY BLUR OF FARM BUILDINGS, THE TRACK WINDING AWAY, BUT LITTLE TO DISTRACT US FROM THE SENSE THAT ALL WE NEED , IN ORDER TO GET THE FULLEST MEASURE OF YOU, IS YOU.
Anthony Lane, "Faces in the Crowd," THE NEW YORKER, February 10, 2003, p. 94

The photograph offered here is believed to be one of three extant prints of this image. The J. Paul Getty Museum acquired one for their collection in 1984 and another was sold at Sotheby's, October 7, 1993, lot 284.