Getty Museum

[Untitled / Child, Westerwald]

Date

about 1926–1927

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Culture

German

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

> August Sander enjoyed the company of children and was known around his Cologne neighborhood for his ability to tell a good story and nurture sick pets back to health. He is said to have shown up for his portrait assignments with toys and hand puppets in his pocket, ready to provide entertainment for reticent youngsters. > > Sander's technical equipment remained decidedly old-fashioned throughout his career. For his portrait work he relied largely on an antiquated Vogtländer lens, a view camera on a tripod, and large glass-plate negatives. The fact that this gear required an exposure time of up to four seconds is doubly important when considering this image of a little peasant boy balanced precariously on a bike, accompanied by the family's hunting dog. How the photographer managed to keep the toddler in position and hold the attention of both the child and the dog for the time it took to make the exposure is a question that will have to remain unanswered. Sander printed the picture in an unusually large format and signed it for exhibition, thus offering evidence that he considered it a masterpiece, a Herculean accomplishment indeed. > > Adapted from *August Sander*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum by Claudia Bohn-Spector (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 2000), 28. ©2000, J. Paul Getty Trust.

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