Louisiana Lecture
Looking at a master
– lessons from
August Sander
- DateWednesday 18. January
- TimeKl. 19:30
- PlaceConcert Hall
- Price20 DKK (entrance fee is not included)

An introduction to German photographer August Sander, his legendary work and heritage by one of the leading experts on the matter, curator Florian Ebner, head of the Photography Department at Centre Pompidou in Paris.
August Sander’s “Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts” (People of the 20th century) is a unique group portrait of German society during the Weimar Republic and stands as a classic in European photographic and art history.
Sander (1876-1964) portrayed prominent and anonymous Germans from all walks of life in a simple and sober pictorial style that depicts distinctive ‘types’ but also lets the individual come into character.
This evening one of the leading experts in photography in Germany, Florian Ebner, head of the Photography Department at Centre Pompidou in Paris will discuss the typology and categories used by Sander in his representation.
Sander was a great inspiration to American photographers Walker Evans (1903-1975) and Diane Arbus (1923-1971). But how do we look at his methods today? Can one, like Sander, divide society into groups to depict ‘types’ and document a cross-section of society – and would such an approach make sense today?
The lecture is in English.
The event is arranged in collaboration with, and with the support of, the Goethe Institute in Copenhagen.
About Florian Ebner
Florian Ebner has been head of the Centre Pompidou’s photography department since July 2017. He has published books and essays on modern and contemporary photography and curated several exhibitions. In 2015, he was curator of the German pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
In collaboration with Florian Ebner and curator of modern art at the Centre Pompidou Angela Lampe, Louisiana’s major exhibition, The Cold Gaze – Germany in the 1920s, has been created, and Florian Ebner has had special responsibility for the presentation of August Sander’s photographic works.
August Sander

A selection of more than 250 photographs of August Sander's life’s work “Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts” (People of the 20th Century) formed an independent part of the show about Germany in the 1920s.