Average minds discuss events
Small minds discuss people
[Eleanor Roosevelt]
Is it true? I do not agree! What about discussing ideas by showing people? That has happened during the last 3 months at the New Walk Museum and Art Gallery in Leicester. Two of the temporary exhibitions, pictures made by August Sander as well as graphics by George Grosz, have showed the idea of discussing people by introducing them as they really looked, without polishing the reality.
Sander’s work focused on the portraits of “People of the 20th Century” so he photographed representatives of every class, profession and sex. We can look into the eyes of farmers, cooks, industrialists, proletarian intellectuals, politicians, socialists, philosophers, nuns, priests, nurses, doctors, secretaries, students, soldiers, policemen, prisoners, artists and actresses. The photos show every single wrinkle on their faces as well as the texture of the material in their clothes, which makes the pictures expressive and real. I have the same feeling whilst looking at his studies of hands. I was very close to touching them, trying to shake them or just handle them gently.
Grosz drew and painted at a similar time as Sander photographed, but he not only showed reality but also emphasized the weakness of the German society from the beginning of the 20th century. Most of his ironic graphics were destroyed by the government as they cynically pointed out the cruelty caused by the politicians of the day. The ones which have remained judge the political system and gaps in the law. They also show society without being prudish.
Both artists keep the portrayed people as real as they were. For the art should be meaningful which means it should show the truth. “By sight and observation and thought, with the help of the camera, and the addition of the date of the year, we can hold fast the history of the world” said Sander.
Sander’s and Grosz’s work holds the story which the world tries to tell us. Do we have great minds to discuss this idea?
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