From The Economist: Twentieth-century man.
“Nothing is more hateful to me than photography sugar-coated with gimmicks, poses and false effects,” wrote August Sander in 1927. “Let me speak the truth in all honesty about our age.” Like a lepidopterist, Sander captured and classified his fellow Germans, arranging them by profession, social class and family relationships. In a career spanning 50 years, he observed industrialists, avant-garde artists, communists, circus performers, gypsies and the unemployed with equal detachment, allowing each sitter his dignity.