High School Student

August Sander

1926 · Gelatin silver print · Photographs

After World War I, Sander undertook the monumental project of portraying all types and classes of German citizens, but his book, The Face of Our Time, could not be published under the Nazi regime. This photograph was intended as a representative image of the modern high school student. If it recalls the preening nonchalance of any senior in his yearbook portrait, that is testimony to Sander's remarkable ability to extract the typical from the specific.

Artist

August Sander

Date

1926

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987