Girl with Lute, August Sander, 1927
August SanderGerman, 1876–1964

Girl with Lute

1927 · Photograph

Can I see it?

Not on view at present

Where is “Girl with Lute” now? Collection: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Not on view at present. Checked September 29, 2026.

Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked
In this state since
Source
The museum

About the work

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.

Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0

Details

Accession number
1976.193

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