August Sander (1876–1964) was a German photographer best known for his ambitious project, People of the Twentieth Century, which sought to document the social landscape of early 20th-century Germany. Born in Herdorf, Germany, he began his career assisting a local photographer before establishing his own studio in Cologne in 1910.

As a practitioner of New Objectivity, an avant-garde movement that rejected abstraction and idealisation in favour of realism, Sander approached photography with a clear, methodical style. His portraits captured individuals from a wide range of professions and social classes, offering an unembellished view of German society during the Weimar Republic.

His systematic approach grouped subjects into categories such as farmers, skilled tradesmen, women, and artists, creating a structured yet deeply human archive of the time. This commitment to realism, however, put him at odds with the Nazi regime, which saw his unfiltered portrayal of German society as politically problematic. Despite censorship and personal hardships, his work endured, influencing generations of documentary photographers. Today, his legacy is preserved in major collections, including the AmberSide Collection, and continues to shape the visual language of social documentary photography.