CAMILE ORILLANEDA
PASTRYCOOK, 1928
AUGUST SANDER
Photographs are a testimony to the people and times they were developed in; they capture pieces of reality and provide an exceptional record of the past. Although often perceived as an impulse of vanity, portraits, are just as worthy as a record of human activity of the past as their photojournalistic-action counterparts. Traditional photographer, August Sander, utilized the camera to capture everyday people in intendment of recording the cultural value of the German citizens. He was not eager to remember who each individual was personally; there was no emotional attachment to the cook or the carpenter or businessman. The portraits lack personal identity, they are named simply after their occupation and date: Pastrycook, 1928, which acts as a label for organization. As a collective, the portrait series represents the culture as a whole and each person, though usually overlooked by common people of the time, attests to the different aspects of Germans in the early to mid 1900’s. Photographing common people in similar, standing poses eliminates possible misconceptions and complications, thus, the story of the photograph relies wholeheartedly on the environment, facial expressions, uniforms: every detail whether it be minute or blatantly obvious, contributes to the personality of the subject and analogously, his contribution to the German culture. The camera angle is traditional, straightforward, to eliminate any contaminating ploys. Moreover, those details are tied into historical aspects: they are referential, metaphors of the era they were taken in, the society the subject inhabited, and only when each detail analyzed in its fullest can the portrait is of significant value as a cultural representation.
The white, straight collared uniform dominates the majority of the photograph, creating a glowing, central mass, drawing the attention of the eye. It envelopes a large, rotund man with buttons slightly tighter at the belly region and sleeves wide, rolled up in neat cuffs. The uniform, free of wrinkles and pockets is accompanied by sleek, black slacks and ebony shoes, well-shined and remarkably spotless considering the flour-covered floor they tread upon. The man’s face, rotund to match his corpulent torso is expressionless; his round eyes staring forward and chin slightly up. His face accommodates no facial hair except the small, neatly trimmed, mustache resting lightly above his thin, slightly frowning lips. In his hand, he firmly grips a wooden spoon, which, in a 45 degree angle, is dipped into a round, metal bowl. Like the spoon, the position of the bowl varies from the structured 90-degree-clean-cut metal shelves, which illuminate the otherwise dark, black and unfocused brick walls. The stove is a simple, cube shape save for the protruding, crooked shelf. An empty muffin pan sits below the identical container boxes, marked with a single white label. The tiles, a dark shade which would otherwise be black if it were not slightly powdered with a light dust, extend far into the background. The footsteps create an elegant, consistent pattern on the tiles.
The consistent, well-dressed, structured almost rectangular vernacular suggests an upper class individual who comes from a wealthy family. His body structure signifies years of leisure work; he has never had to exert his body to intense physical labor. The care put into his crisp, clean uniform demonstrates the upper-class society he was raised in, where appearance reveals his social status, thus, a neat, flawless coat demonstrates wealth. His upturned chin, in conjunction with his straight posture, reveals his confidence; the elements in the photograph lie either exactly parallel or perpendicular to his stature- except for the slightly tilted wok. The bowl, though breaking the exact grid, is purposely done so due to the pressure of the spoon. He is well-trained, every aspect of his environment has structure, even forcing the otherwise precarious flour into a neat, expected pattern.
The PastryCook of 1928 is a stocky man, unaware of the inconsistency outside of his spacious, structured shelter. His only concern is to make pastries, to stir the contents within the bowl, and, even though he is in the middle of action, he does not look its contents, yet he poses; his dignity dominates the photograph. His lives in a posh society, unforgiving of chaos or variation of perfection and, as a result, his posture and facial expression reveal a cocky, confident man.
August Sander, intent on photographing the man in his natural environment, captures the high-class society of German culture during the first half of the century. The Pastrycook is of one of the persons demonstrating a part of the culture, and juxtaposing him to the dirty, mangy, yet muscular carpenter demonstrates the variety of people within the cultural scope. Because Sander does not take the subjects into a studio, the environment is an extension of the individual; the stove, the floor, the dust, the boxes all reveal the nature of the Pastrycook. Therefore, the essence of the photograph is revealed in the examination of precise detail in an otherwise simple, clean, and elegant photograph.