Karl Blossfeldt (1)
Urformen der Kunst

titlepage

The striking photogravures below are cut from the first, 1928 edition of Karl Blossfeldt's classic Urformen der Kunst.  Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) taught sculpture at the Royal School of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin.  He devised a camera that was capable of taking greatly magnified closeup photos of plants.  He would then use these photos in the classroom as models of organic form.  After more than 30 years of  nature study, Blossfeldt, at the age of 63, published some of his photos in Urformen der Kunst (Archetypal Forms of Art) and quickly achieved international celebrity.  The work has been reprinted numerous times, but the plates offered below are from the first edition.

Note: The Blossfeldt photogravures typically have a bluish or greenish tinge.   The images below have been scanned in greyscale, so that these tints are not evident.  The paper itself is mildly age toned to a pleasing ivory; consequently, the margins are not quite as white as the scans would suggest.   The reverse side of each plate is blank. The photogravures have a clean, fresh appearance with little evidence of handling.

Size: Approximately 9.75 x 12.25 inches
All margins are intact, but they have been cropped in the scans.

"The plant never lapses into mere arid functionalism; it fashions and shapes according to logic and suitability, and with its primeval force compels everything to attain the highest artistic form."  --Blossfeldt



 
Name
Price
Condition

01

BLOSS-01

Equisetum hiemale
Sold
Excellent

02

BLOSS-02

Equisetum hiemale
E. maximum
E. hiemale

Sold Excellent

03

BLOSS-03

Equisetum hiemale
Sold Excellent

04

BLOSS-04

Equisetum hiemale
Sold Excellent

05

BLOSS-05

Equisetum hiemale
Sold Excellent

06

BLOSS-06

Equisetum hiemale
E. arvense

55.00 Excellent
07

BLOSS-07

Equisetum hiemale
Hosta japonica
Equisetum hiemle

Sold Excellent

08

BLOSS-08

Equisetum hiemale
Rhamnus purshiana
Equisetum hiemale
 


Sold Excellent

09

BLOSS-09

Callicarpa dichotoma
 Fraxinus ornus
Cornus pubescens

Sold Excellent

10

BLOSS-10

Cornus brachypoda
Cornus pubescens
Viburnum

Sold Excellent

11

BLOSS-11

Callistemma brachiatium
55.00 Excellent

12

BLOSS-12

Geum rivale
Sold Excellent

13

BLOSS-13

Aesculus parviflora
Sold Excellent

14

BLOSS-14

Acer
55.00 Excellent

15

BLOSS-15

Cornus nuttallii
Cornus florida

55.00 Excellent

16

BLOSS-16

Cornus nuttallii
Cornus nuttallii
Acer

55.00
Excellent

17

BLOSS-17

Cornus nuttallii
Cornus florida
Acer

55.00 Excellent

18

BLOSS-18

Cornus florida
55.00 Excellent

19

BLOSS-19

Impatiens glanduligera
Sold Excellent

20

BLOSS-20

Cornus nuttallii
Cornus officinalis

55.00 Excellent

21

BLOSS-21


Picea excelsa
55.00 Excellent

22

BLOSS-22

Acer furinerve Sold Excellent

23

BLOSS-23

Primula japonica
Sold Excellent

24

BLOSS-24
Physotegia virginiana
55.00 Excellent
Ordering Information

Karl Blossfeldt

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