August Sander

mounted to grey paper, in a vellum overmat, signed and dated by the photographer and annotated 'Der Maler Heinr. Hoerle Köln' by Gunther Sander, the photographer's son, in pencil on the overmat, a 'Sander, "Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts"' letterpress paper label on the reverse, framed, 1931

Sotheby's London, 29 May 2007, Sale L07430, Lot 28

Gunther Sander, ed., August Sander: Citizens of the Twentieth Century, Portrait Photographs, 1892-1952 (Cambridge and London, 1997), pl. 323

August Sander: In Photography There Are No Unexplained Shadows (Cologne and London, 1996), p. 139

Susanne Lange, Alfred Döblin, and Manfred Heiting, August Sander, 1876-1964 (Taschen, 1999), p. 125

Van Deren Coke, Avant-Garde Photography in Germany, 1919-1939 (Munich, 1982), cover

Ann Thomas, Modernist Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, 2007), pl. 60

This piercing portrait of German Constructivist artist Heinrich Hoerle was executed by Sander on semi-glossy paper with a smooth surface. It is essentially in excellent condition. There is a small area of warm-colored discoloration in the lower left corner of the image. This is not in the least distracting or obtrusive. Several small deposits of original retouching are visible overall when this print is examined very closely in high raking light. The off-white vellum paper overmat is lightly soiled and appropriately age-darkened. There is a faint 2-inch tideline in the upper right corner of the overmat. The following numerical notations are in an unidentified hand on the reverse: '38' (circled), '24/29,' 'D/G[?],' and '17' (circled). There are also hinge and paper remnants along the edges on the reverse.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

With its vellum overmat, signed and dated by the photographer beneath the image, and its printed ‘Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts’ label on the reverse, this photograph presents the ideal state for an early August Sander print.  Sander’s home studio in Cologne was destroyed in a 1944 air raid, and surviving prints from the 1920s or 1930s are scarce. 

The subject of this photograph is the artist Heinrich Hoerle (1895-1936), a leading figure in the Dada and Constructivist movements in Cologne.  The apartment he shared with his wife Angelika became a meeting place for local artists and the launching pad for many projects in the 1910s and early 1920s.  The Hoerles were part of the vibrant and heterogeneous art scene of Cologne that also included Max Ernst, Anton Räderscheit, Franz Wilhelm Seiwert, and others who challenged the artistic status quo and freely criticized bourgeois German society and the rise of National Socialism. The Hoerles contributed work to the proto-Dada magazine, Der Ventilator, and the solidly Dadaist Bulletin D.  With Räderscheit and his wife Marta, they produced the more politically-oriented journal Stupidien (1920).  With Seiwert, Hoerle was a founder of the avant-garde Cologne Progressives group and the editor of its journal a bis z. 

For a photographer who was known for his straightforward documentary style, Sander’s association and friendship with this particularly radical group of Cologne artists is somewhat surprising.  Hoerle, Räderscheit (both alone and with his wife), and Seiwert were all photographed by Sander.  Sander made several images of Hoerle, including one of the artist sketching, and a festive image of Hoerle in costume at the Kölner Lumpenbal (Sander became an enthusiastic chronicler of the artists’ yearly Mardi Gras revels).  A photograph taken by Sander of the interior of his own studio shows his framed portrait of Hoerle hanging adjacent to that of Seiwert, alongside a painting by the latter (In Focus: August Sander, pl. 47). 

Although nearly twenty years younger than Sander, Hoerle’s life paralleled the photographer’s in a number of ways.   Both men served in World War I, and were deeply affected by the conflict.  Sander returned determined to create his epic collective portrait of the German people.  Hoerle published Krüppelmappe (1920), a portfolio of lithographs depicting the physical and psychological pain faced by crippled veterans.  Both artists attracted the attention of the German authorities for their activities.  In 1934, the Reich Chamber of Arts ordered the destruction of the printing plates of Sander’s book of portraits Antlitz der Zeit, and the seizure of all copies, and effectively halted his picture-making.  Hoerle, whose work had been purchased by German museums in the 1920s, was branded a ‘degenerate’ artist in the 1930s.  His work was shown in the 1933 Kulturbolschewistische Bilder (Images of Cultural Bolshevism) exhibition organized by the Nazis in Mannheim, and in the now-infamous Entartete Kunst (Degenerate Art) exhibition held in Munich in 1937. 

At this writing, it is believed that only one other early print of this image has appeared at auction, a variant cropping sold in New York in 2008.