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What This Photo Doesn't Show (Patreon)

Published:
2019-03-05 22:28:35
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Beautiful analysis of by John Green of this photo by August Sander. Worth watching to understand both photography and art better. Sometimes the biggest stories are in the smallest things.

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What This Photo Doesn't Show

This photograph of young farmers on their way to a dance was taken in Germany in 1914 by August Sander. Except they weren't farmers. And the dance they were on their way to was World War I. To learn more about Sun Basket, go to http://getSunbasket.com/Art Guest host John Green delves into the real story behind this iconic photograph. To support our channel, visit: http://www.patreon.com/artassignment. Thanks to our Grandmaster of the Arts Vincent Apa, and all of our patrons, especially Yakira Dixon, Patrick Hanna, Nichole Hicks, David Moore, Jane Quale, and Constance Urist. Subscribe for new episodes of The Art Assignment every other Thursday! -- Follow us elsewhere for the full Art Assignment experience: Tumblr: http://theartassignment.com Response Tumblr: http://all.theartassignment.com Twitter: http://twitter.com/artassignment Instagram: http://instagram.com/theartassignment/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/theartassignment and don't forget Reddit!: http://www.reddit.com/r/TheArtAssignment

Comments

Greg Hartwick

Thanks, I’m a big John Green fan but I missed this one. This is the power of photography that has always drawn me to it. I remember that photograph from my younger days but I never knew there was any story behind it. Fifty years earlier and it would have been a painting to capture such a moment. Perhaps John would have had a similar story to tell.

Pete Gunnell

Difficult to tell if some of what is ascribed to the photo was actually in the mind of its creator (clearly, some things couldn’t be and not claimed to be), but a fascinating story of context and events.

Kevin Phillips

A great and entertaining analysis, however, aside from the facts presented the remainder seems to be speculation. Nothing wrong with that and it shows how a story can be created out of a few snippets of reality. As Pete says, we may never know what was in the mind of the creator but I suppose the beauty is that we can interpret the image as we choose with our own contexts. Having said that, we would only have the image as presented. The reviewer had the benefit of related photo's so that he could enrich the story (going off to war etc).

Olivio Sarikas
>>20511006

I agree, Kevin. It was a bit too much speculation at some parts. Although it's hard to say, because, knowing John Green's videos he spend hours on hours researching this stuff. So there is probably 30-40 times the amount of data he didn't share with us to keep it short. The cool thing here is that he knows and honors the importance of context and even a single extra photo can provide so much more insight into the lifes of these people.

Olivio Sarikas
>>20509992

Hi Pete, yes absolutely. A big part of every artwork is written by history, not by the artists. The photographer couldn't have known about the world war and who would die. Maybe he never even saw this photo as anything special and still it became a icon later on. Personally this the Sanders photo i know best and identify most with him <a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sander-pastrycook-al00033" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/sander-pastrycook-al00033</a> I think a lot of the importance of the artwork come from how important it was in the context that came to life after the work was created. The farmers going to a dance, followed by the war of machines, the downfall of the farmer class, the change from production to information. There is a lot in there that only came to make this photo interesting long after it was shot.

Olivio Sarikas
>>20500447

You are welcome, Greg. I love John Green. What a guy. So creative and productive and still relaxed and humble as if he is just a friend from school. And yes, that true, could have been a painting some years earlier. It's impressive how much time changes and how much technology changes us. Even the concept that Sanders did documentation with this very new medium. Consider what it must have cost to take all these photos. And for what? Some farmers walking down a field? That must have sounded crazy back in the day.

Olivio Sarikas
>>20500447

By the way: look at his photos and notice how strongly they are still influenced by classic painting postures.