Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a botanist, instructor of sculpture, and photographer in turn-of-the-century Berlin, who used his remarkable studies of plants to educate his students about design elements in nature. He once said, "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." Self-taught in photography, he devoted himself to studying natural forms, photographing nothing but flowers, buds and seed capsules for thirty-five years.
Plate 55 from Wundergarten der Natur (1932)
Medium: Sheet-fed photogravure
Image size: 27.5 x 21.5 cm / 10.8 x 8.4 inches
Framed: 41.9 x 34.5 cm / 16.5 x 13.5 inches
Natural wood exhibition frame
Framing: Archival matboard