....Young Girl in a Circus Caravan....

© J. Paul Getty Trust
August Sander
German, Düren, 1929
Gelatin silver print
11 9/16 x 9 in.
84.XM.126.223
It is very interesting to talk to these people: one learns a great deal about their circumstances and the deeper meaning of their lives.

August Sander's sympathetic view of circus people and gypsies and his genuine love of children are embodied in this image. Rather than positioning the girl in front of the caravan wagon, he had her remain sheltered, holding a key in a locked door. Lace-edged window curtains reflect an attempt to make this roaming wagon--probably the only home this girl has ever known--a comfortable environment. Behind her is a mysterious world, not to be revealed to the viewer. As one historian has remarked, "a suggestive, almost tantalizing narrative unfolds: of freedom and confinement, security and danger, things visible and hidden."