“The individual becomes the ‘I’ within the group; without a group, the individual would have no echo, no sphere of influence, and no historical continuity.” Inspired by the writings of psychoanalyst Raymond Battegay, Joachim Giesel created the series Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group) between 1970 and 1989, which comprises over a hundred group portraits. He is interested in both individual characteristics and the social aspects that bring people together in a group—be it profession, faith, or hobby, but also sexual orientation or social status. In addition to mail carriers, assembly-line workers, amateur radio operators, female soccer players and tandem cyclists, the series also includes images of a shared apartment and a Weight Watchers group. Giesel’s staging of location, attributes, and clothing transforms the individual into a member of a collective: thus, the ornithologists gaze through their binoculars, while the hunters’ feet are flanked by rows of the hares they have bagged. A uniform attire, such as that of nuns or an aircraft crew, signals membership in a specific group and allows outsiders to identify them. The photographs are taken during commissioned assignments, during which Giesel asks for permission to take additional shots for his series, as well as at private events or on his own initiative. In these images, he depicts people in their typical settings: croupiers in the casino, cooks in the commercial kitchen. They are arranged in precise compositions, even though the photographer himself emphasizes that the shots are not staged. His group portraits are as much social photographic documentation as they are a sociological study of the West German population of the 1970s. For example, the photographs of a drag show or of homosexuals attest to Giesel’s specific interest in marginalized groups.
With photographs like these, Giesel consciously places himself in the tradition of August Sander. Sander’s iconic long-term documentary People of the 20th Century is divided into seven groups comprising a total of 45 portfolios, which together offer a social cross-section of the German population during the Weimar Republic. The groups are titled The Farmer, The Skilled Tradesman, The Woman, The Classes and Professions, The Artists, The City and The Last People. Sander “did not photograph people, but types. People who represent their class, their social status, their caste so fully that the individual may be taken to represent the group,” explained Kurt Tucholsky in 1930. In Giesel’s Man in the Group, however, the focus is no longer on the individuals’ affiliation with a “class” or a “social status,” but rather on the human being as a social creature. As in no other series, the central motif of human portraits in Giesel’s oeuvre comes to the fore here: “It is my intention to show the viewer the individual’s position within the group, their specific character traits, temperaments, living conditions, inclinations, and abilities, and to open up for discussion the motivation behind belonging to the group.”
RICKIE LYNNE GIESEL
| Homosexuelle (Homosexuals) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group)), Langenhagen, 1976 (silver gelatin baryta paper, vintage print)
| Gymnastikgruppe im Altenheim (Gymnastics Group in a Retirement Home) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group)), Hannover, before 1977 (silver gelatin baryta paper, 2023)
| Schlachter (Butcher) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group)), Hannover, 1972 (silver gelatin baryta paper, vintage print)
| Dock-Arbeiter (Dock Workers) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group)), Hamburg, 1978 (silver gelatin baryta paper, vintage print)
| Fließbandarbeiter (Assembly Line Workers) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Human in the Group)), Hannover, 1977 (silver gelatin baryta paper, vintage print)
| FKK–Gruppe (FKK Group) (aus der Serie Der Mensch in der Gruppe (The Man in the Group)), Hannover, 1976 (silver gelatin baryta paper, vintage print)