Recently, wandering about an antiques market, I was stopped in my tracks by three men staring at me. I didn’t feel danger ..
. however, familiarity was in the air. They were well over 100 years old but looked in their 20s or 30s.
And they were standing in Berlin’s Victoria Park. Two men had a cane or walking stick and two were smoking. Each was dressed to the nines with high collars, well-tailored pants and coats, ties and hats.
I did not know any of the men but did recognize them in an odd sort of way. Standing near the upper lake of Berlin’s Victoria Park, the trio epitomizes the tradition that an early 20th-century visit to the park required proper attention to one’s dress. Anyone interested in 20th century photography has at one time or another come across the lifelong body of work by August Sander (1876-1964).
Dividing people into 45 “types,” Sander chronicled every level of German life. His most famous work was the (mis-) titled “Young Farmers” which dates from 1913. It shows: three men with canes and “ .
.. two were smoking.
Each was dressed to the nines with high collars, well-tailored pants and coats, ties and hats.” August Sander’s photo “Young Farmers” appears in most photographic history books. It is a carefully arranged scene designed to look “snapshot-ish.
” Is it any wonder the early 20th-century Victoria Park photo took me immediately back to pre-First World War Germany? There is an immense amount of information on Sander’s photo o.
