With People of the 20th Century, August Sander created a monumental work that is unique in the history of photography and a classic of photographic literature. Sander conceived this large-scale project, which he ultimately never completed, in the 1920s. He was to spend the rest of his life working on it, his objective nothing less than a complete typological portrait of contemporary society. Hundreds of portraits classified according to professional, social or family criteria were to provide a representative picture of the various social groups. He envisaged seven groups labeled: -The Farmer-, -The Skilled Tradesman-, -The Woman-, -Classes and Professions-, -The Artists-, -The City- and--on the theme of age, illness and death---The Last People-. We have now condensed out 2002 seven-volume edition of the artist's complete oeuvre into one large volume presenting -the essential- People of the 20th Century.