the Tulse Luper Archetypes

"Pastry Cook," 1928, was taken in a commercial kitchen by August Sander, a German photographer. The cook, wearing a long white coat, stirs something in a large metal pot. The photograph is a study in rounded forms, from the shape of the rotund cook's bald head and heavy, expressionless face, to his massive fist holding the ladle, to his well padded figure, to the bowl itself.

August Sander (1876-1964) photographed German citizens from all classes and walks of life. Rich, poor, men, women, revolutionaries, artists, tramps, professionals, children, laborers, Communists, Social Democrats, Anglo Saxons, Gypsies, and Negroes stood or sat squarely in front of his camera, fully conscious of the photographer's intention and of their own role in society. Sander photographed his subjects in flat light, making no attempt to flatter them, and then printed the unretouched photographs on glossy paper in order to reveal every detail. "It is not my intention either to criticize or to describe these people, but to create a piece of history with my pictures," he wrote.