Currently until March 29th there is an exhibition of some 46 photographs taken by the self-taught August Sandler at the Goethe-Institut/Galerie Conde, 31, rue de Conde in the 6th. It is an arresting and shocking show.
The picture above, which features in all their invitations, publicity and posters, says it all. Unlike other shows, that deceive you by showing the best thing they've got on the poster, this is simply a statement of the show/oeuvre itself.
Recall, this is 1931, between the wars, when Germany was hurting from a failed war and bouncing between decadence and morosité and Hitler was just on the horizon. The Nazis had yet to achieve the imperiousness characterized so well in Casablanca when Carl says he gave the German major the best table because he knew he was "German and would take it anyway."
These photos reflect the ordinariness, indeed banality of everyday life, but also the anger, desperation and morosité that must have been omnipresent then. Go but don't expect to be uplifted.
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