Karl Blossfeldt
Overview
Karl Blossfeldt (1865 –1932) is best-known for his close-up photographs of plants published in 1929 as Urformen der Kunst. A photographer, sculptor, teacher and artist based in Berlin, Blossfeldt made a homemade camera that could magnifying the subject up to thirty times its size, revealing the natural structure of a plant – the repetitive patterns found in natural textures and forms. The resulting images were technically brilliant, artistically inspired and strikingly modernist. In 2001, Urformen der Kunst was included in the The Book of 101 Books, as one of the seminal photographic books of the twentieth century.
Featured Exhibitions
Cobaea scandens, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Asclepias speciosa, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Aristolochia clematitis, 1928
7.25 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Eranthis cilicica, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Physostegia virginiana, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Symphytum officinale, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravurein.
Dipsacus laciniatus, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Impatiens glandulifera, 1928
7.25 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Polystichum munitum, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Eryngium giganteum, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Tellima grandiflora, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Abutilon, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Equisetum hyemale, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Papaver, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Centaurea ruthenica (Compositae), 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Forsythia suspensa, 1928
7.5 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Trollius europaeus, 1928
7.25 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Primula japonica, 1928
7.75 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Achillea umbellate, 1928
7.25 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure
Cirsium canum, Phlomis umbrosa, and Salvia, 1928
7.25 x 10.25 in.
Photogravure