The exhibition presents two narratives of German modernity during the Weimar Republic (1918-1933), in two separate layouts that come together at certain intersecting points to become just one. An initial theme-based part proposes the first overall view in France of the New Objectivity movement from a multidisciplinary perspective (painting, photography, architecture, but also design, film, theatre, literature and music). A second monographic part presents the major work of photographer August Sander (1876-1946), Die Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts (People of the 20th Century).

By focussing on the years 1925-1929, a period of a certain economic stability, the exhibition highlights all the ambivalence of a society torn between a fascination with rationalisation and anxiety with regard to alienating deindividuation, subversion of gender norms and defence of the established order. It thus proposes to analyse the Zeitgeist of a German society subjected to rapid social, political and media transformation.

The Men of the 20th Century project runs through the exhibition in the same way as it ran through its period. This unfinished work, an ambitious attempt to classify a whole society, introduces us to the protagonists of 1920s Germany.

The set of seven groups and forty five portfolios is a monument in the history of photography – more an organic construction than a monolithic work – as illustrated by the presentation of its sources and the spotlight on its links to the art of its time.
This exhibition will be presented at the Louisiana Museum of Art from October 13, 2022 to February 19, 2023.