If you have a free hour this week, go up to the Met to see the August Sander show on the second floor. The exhibit features beautiful portraits of Germans from all classes of society- intellectuals, farmers, women, criminals, etc. They were shot from the 1920s to the 1940s, just as Germany was convulsing through the Weimar years and the rise of the Third Reich, as part of Sander's Menschen des 20 Jahrhunderts (People of the 20th Century) project. There's a companion show in a little room off to the side with a few Sugimoto pictures and some stuff by Thomas Struth- also worth checking out.

Comments

[Das Komandant]

Great tip, mein fuerher!

[jake]

Actually, asshole, Sander was ruthlessly suppressed by the Nazis- they came close to destroying his archives, because they felt that it showcased the racial diversity of Germany, as opposed to the Aryan ideals. They also threw his son into prison for ten years, where he eventually died of a burst appendix- the crime was printing anti-Nazi tracks. Despite all of that, Sander is often labelled as a Nazi sympathizer, mostly by people too ignorant to look into the facts of the case.

[sac]

Holy crap! The subject in that last portrait is gorgeous. Finally, something worthwhile.

[btezra]

~being of German heritage I would love to check out the exhibition, thnx for the head's up and the info; your series of images details your experience well~

[mr. v]

I'm a big fan of Lucian Freud. I hope you don't mind.

[Ravi]

I think that last photo is of David Bowie in drag, again.

[John]

Boys keep swinging---boys always work it out

(I love the Bowie video where he plays all three of the backup singers... It gets even better with the story of the record executive who really wanted to meet the "girl" in the middle.)

[Mase]

I like the compare/contrast in the first photo. Hopefully, that was taken on purpose (though set up accidently, of course).

[sac]

It does look like Bowie. See, I told you Jake's cat pictures turned me gay.