Karl Blossfeldt
Plate 18- Magnolia denudata precia
Yulan, lily tree, inner part of a flower
Photogravure, Framed

and

Karl Blossfeldt: 1865-1932
Hans Christian Adam
Publication Date: 1999
Binding: Hardcover
359 pages

While studying at the Berlin Museum of Arts and crafts in the late 1800s, German teacher and photographer, Karl Blossfeldt, was askeed to help put togetherer sculptural plant models so that craftsmen and manufacturers could use them for design study.  What started out as teaching materials turned out to be the work that made Blossfeldt famous.  The exquisitely detailed botanical photographs that Karl Blossfeldt took of planced influenced generations of artists.

Using a phtomechanical etching process called photogravure, Blossfeldt's photographs were published in three books, including the 1932 book Magic Garden of Nature, which this vintage phtogravure if from.

The diptych, Yulan, lily tree, inner part of a flower, is an excellent example of Blossfeldt's interest and skill in showing the sculptural aspects of plans; in this case the tiny sections of the flower are depicted in starck detail.

This auction item is professionally matted and framed with a 1" black frame.

Book Synopsis

A serious man who earned his living as a teacher, Karl Blossfeldt (1865- 1932) seems an unlikely candidate for aesthetic canonisation. But his photographs of plants, taken in their thousands over more than thirty years, reveal a formally rigorous talent whose precision and dedication
bridge the nineteenth and twentieth century worlds of Image making as do his contemporaries Eugene Atget and the recently rediscovered Charles Jones. In Blossfeldt's hands, plants and their constituent parts become almost architectural in their construction. Form and structure are laid bare to highlight the secrets of growth in the natural world, and to provide lessons that could be applied to industrial design. Beautifully but starkly composed against plain cardboard backgrounds, Blossfeldt's images, relying on a northern light for their sense of volume, reveal nothing of the man but everything of themselves. They are still-lifes, piercingly final statements on their subject. Blossfeldt's intention was always to document his teaching methods and to establish a photographic archive of his work. Neither was to be, but his images have endured owing to their technical brilliance and their ongoing fascination to students in a number of disciplines. Like their maker, they are quietly and lastingly effective.

Etherton Galley is proud to be celebrating 29 years of showing the best in vintage, classic and contemporary photography.  Recently named Best Art Gallery in Tucson by The Tucson Weekly, the gallery proudly shows a variety of local artists in all media as well as photography.  Located upstairs in the historic Odd Fellows Hall at 135 S. 6th Ave.

Etherton Gallery
135 s. 6th Ave.
Tucson, AZ  85701
520-624-7370
www.ethertongallery.com