Karl
Blossfeldt (1)
Urformen der Kunst

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