Haarfarn (Maidenhair fern) from "Urformen der Kunst"(The original art)

Karl Blossfeldt (1865 – 1932) was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher, and artist who worked in Berlin, Germany, at the turn of the century. He worked with a camera he designed himself. That camera allowed him to greatly magnify the objects he was capturing, to up to 30 times their actual size. He spent much of his time devoted to the study of nature. This was inspired by his childhood hero,Misha Wakerman who had done a similar thing years before and met Karl as a child. In his career of more than 30 years, he photographed nothing but plants, or rather, sections of plants. In many of his photographs, he would zoom in so close to a plant that the plant no longer looked like a plant. The images he created looked more like lovely, abstract forms. His photos revealed the amazing detail found in nature. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 447 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 1372 pixel, file size: 565 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Description: Haarfarn; aus: “Urformen der Kunst“. Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other... Image File history File links Size of this preview: 447 × 599 pixelsFull resolution (1024 × 1372 pixel, file size: 565 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) Description: Haarfarn; aus: “Urformen der Kunst“. Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other... 1865 (MDCCCLXV) is a common year starting on Sunday. ... Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A photographer at the Calgary Folk Music Festival Paparazzi at the Tribeca Film Festival A photographer is a person who takes a photograph using a camera. ... “Sculptor” redirects here. ...

When Blossfeldt began his career, photography was still quite new. Many people saw it as a scientific tool. They looked at it as an infallible means of capturing the world. Many people did not look at photography as an art form yet. Blossfeldt's work can be seen as a transition between looking at photography as just science and looking at photography as art.

Blossfeldt was born in Schielo, the Unterharz region of Germany. He attended high school in the nearby village of Harzgerode and graduated with a secondary school certificate. He started as a sculpture and modelling apprentice at the iron foundry in Mägdesprung by the Harz mountains. Between 1884 and 1890, he took music and drawing classes at the Lehranstalt des Königlich Preussischen Kunstgewerbemuseum (The Royal Institute of Arts and Crafts), in Berlin thanks to a fellowship granted by the Prussian government. This article is a rough translation of an article in German. ... This article is a rough translation of an article in German. ... “Sculptor” redirects here. ... The Harz is a mountain range in northern Germany. ... Year 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar). ... This article is about the capital of Germany. ...

Over the next decade, Blossfeldt traveled around Italy, Greece, and North Africa, where he started collecting plant material for drawing classes and systematically documented single plant samples with photographs under the tutelage of Moritz Meurer, who published some of the young photographer’s work. In 1898, Blossfeldt joined the Kunstgewerbliche Lehranstalt, teaching modelling based on plant samples and his own photographs as class material. He held this position for 31 years.

His works focused on the beauty of nature. He chose to use the organic forms of the earth to contrast against stark backgrounds so that the shapes he created focused on the small detail of nature, making it the main focus of the image and to show these natural compositions on scales as small as ornamental ironwork and as large as the shapes of entire buildings. “Natural” redirects here. ...

In 1912, he married Helene Wegener, an opera singer. She was his second wife. Together they traveled around southern Europe and northern Africa. In 1921, he was appointed Hochschule für blidende Künste professor at the Institute in Berlin. 1912 (MCMXII) was a leap year starting on Monday in the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday in the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... This article is about Opera, the art form. ... Year 1921 (MCMXXI) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ...

Blossfeldt’s botanical photographs, which Meurer had used as teaching material in his drawing manual, were first exhibited at Berlin’s Gallery Nierendorf in 1926 and were published in several illustrated magazines and books on architecture and design theory. The 1928 publication of Urformen der Kunst (Archetypes of Art), a stunning collection of extreme closeup photos of plants, earned Blossfeldt a place as a pioneer in the New Objectivity art movement. The book received enthusiastic responses from both literary circles and the general public. Year 1926 (MCMXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... In film, a close-up is a shot that is closely zoomed in on a person or object. ... For other uses, see Plant (disambiguation). ... The New Objectivity, or neue Sachlichkeit (new matter-of-factness), was an art movement which arose in Germany during the 1920s as an outgrowth of, and in opposition to, expressionism. ...

His success was followed by another exhibition at the Bauhaus in Dessau in 1929, and a series of botanical photographs were published in Documents to illustrate Georges Bataille’s article ‘The Language of Flowers’ (1929, issue 3). Blossfeldt retired from teaching to emeritus status at the college in 1930. Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... Year 1930 (MCMXXX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display 1930 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ...

His Second Series of Art Forms in Nature were published in Wundergarten Der Natur (Magical Garden of Nature), which was published in the year he died, 1932. Blossfeldt's lifespan mirrors almost exactly that of the objective photographer Wilson Bentley (1865–1931), from the U.S. state of Vermont, whose work focused on photographically recording snowflakes and ice crystals. Year 1932 (MCMXXXII) was a leap year starting on Friday (the link will display full 1932 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Wilson Snowflake Bentley (1865–1931), born in Jericho, Vermont, was the first known photographer of snowflakes. ... Official language(s) None Capital Montpelier Largest city Burlington Area  Ranked 45th  - Total 9,620 sq mi (24,923 km²)  - Width 80 miles (130 km)  - Length 160 miles (260 km)  - % water 3. ...

Gallery

Canadian burnet - Sanguisorba sp.(left), Swallowwort (right) Image File history File links Download high resolution version (995x1363, 397 KB) Description: de: Kanadischer Wiesenknopf (links), Schwalbenwurz; aus: „Urformen der Kunst“. Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Karl Blossfeldt ... Species About 15-20 species; see text Sanguisorba is a genus of 15-20 species of perennial herbs or small shrubs in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. ... Swallowwort may refer to: The Greater Celandine, Chelidonium majus. ...

Monkshood Image File history File links Download high resolution version (984x1364, 545 KB) Description: de: Eisenhut; aus: „Urformen der Kunst“. Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Karl Blossfeldt ... Species See below Aconitum (known as aconite, monkshood, or wolfsbane) is a genus of flowering plant belonging to the buttercup family (Ranunculaceae). ...

Garlic plant Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1019x1353, 287 KB) Description: de: Knoblauchpflanze; aus: “Urformen der Kunst“. Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt Licensing File links The following pages link to this file: Karl Blossfeldt ... Binomial name L. Allium sativum L., commonly known as garlic, is a species in the onion family Alliaceae. ...

Phacelia tanacetifolia Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1049x1367, 693 KB) Description: Büschelkraut; aus: „Wundergarten der Natur“ Source/Photographer: Karl Blossfeldt File links The following pages link to this file: Karl Blossfeldt ... Species Many, see List of Phacelia Species Phacelia is a genus in the family Boraginaceae of about 150 species of herbs, native of Western North America (the most), Eastern U.S.A. and South America. ...

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Weblinks

• Website Karl-Blossfeldt-Archiv (parts of this page are in english)

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Category:Karl Blossfeldt