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Karl Blossfeldt
202.01 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1952)
About this photographer | Photographs by this photographer
   
Early in his working life the German photographer Karl Blossfeldt worked as a sculptor in iron foundries but he became interested in the relationships between natural forms and decorative art - an endeavor that was supported by the Prussian government. From 1898 he taught at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin and built up an archive of plant photographs each meticulously detailed and on a plain background to remove any distractions. In 1928 he published Urformen Der Kunst. Photographische Pflanzenbilder (Berlin) which has become one of the seminal photobooks.
202.02 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Karl Blossfeldt: Books
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202.03 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Karl Blossfeldt‘s Original "Urformen der Kunst" / "Art Forms in Nature"
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The magnificent, modernist botanical studies of Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) were first published in his "Urformen der Kunst" in 1928. The work contains 120 single-sided rotary gravure plates, prefaced with an introductory text and list of plate subjects. (Although printed in 1928, the first edition apparently listed no date of publication on the title page.) A second edition of the work was published in 1929, containing the same images and text as the first edition. The 1929 edition was printed in Germany in German, American, English, and perhaps other national versions, which seem to differ only in the publisher‘s imprint and opening text. English printings of the 1929 edition were given the title "Art Forms in Nature".
While the 1929 second edition of "Urformen der Kunst" contains the same images as the first, these seem to have been printed from a different set of printing plates. Having had the opportunity to examine a copy cataloged as first edition from the Yale Library, along with American, German and British 1929 editions, the following differences were noted: First edition plates are neutal in tone, while those from the second edition have a slightly green tone. First edition plates are sometimes more "contrasty" than second edition plates (although this was not the case for all plates in the series) and first edition plates are often of slightly narrower dimensions. Along with these differences in dimension, plates from the two editions show a variety of differing printing flaws which indicate that each edition was printed from a different set of printing plates. In contrast, aside from small variations which probably stem from the nature of rotogravure printing, the three 1929 editions examined appeared identical in the dimensions, coloration, and imperfections of the plates. The photographs on plates 62 and 118 appear to have been rotated 180 degrees in the second edition.
A second work "Wundergarten der Natur" was published with a new set of 120 images in 1932. After Blossfeldt‘s death in 1932 a number of works were published with his images, which continue to the present day. A different "Urformen der Kunst" / "Art Forms in Nature" was published with 96 gravures in various editions circa 1935-1941, and a "Wunder in der Natur" with 120 gravures was printed circa 1942, during WWII in Leipzig.
This exhibition includes all 120 plates of the first version of "Urformen der Kunst," taken from the 1929 second edition (German and American printings). The gravures measure roughly 10.25 x 7.5 inches (26x19 cm) and are printed on sheets 12.25 x 9.5 inches (31x24 cm) with plate number printed in the lower right corner. Images illustrated in horizontal format have been rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Plate descriptions are transcribed from the American printing (E. Weythe, New York, 1929)
© Christopher Wahren - Christopher Wahren Fine Photographs - www.cwfp.biz
August Sander
202.04 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > August Sander (1876-1964)
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August Sander is known for his monumental work Citizens of the Twentieth Century (Menschen des 20. Jahrhunderts) which consists of face on portraits of all classes of German society during the first half of the nineteenth century. The portraits are highly detailed and show people in their working or everyday clothes sometimes accompanied by the tools or symbols of their trade.
In 1929 60 of his portraits were published in the book Face of Our Time (Antlitz der Zeit) but the honesty of the portraits conflicted against the propaganda myths of the Aryan super race that the Nazi party was seeking to promote. In 1934 they seized copies of the book and destroyed the photographic plates.
The work of August Sander is now regarded as one of the key projects in photographic portrait history and his style has been widely copied
Albert Renger-Patzsch
202.05 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Albert Renger-Patzsch: Books
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202.06 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Albert Renger-Patzsch: Die Welt ist schön
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202.07 New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit > Albert Renger-Patzsch: Blüte der Hainbuche
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alan@luminous-lint.com |
General reading
Ahrens, A., 1932-3, ‘Meinungsaustausch: Kunstphotographie und neue Sachlichkeit‘, Camera, vol.11 [Δ]
Lugon, Olivier (ed.), 1997, La Photographie en Allemagne: anthologie de textes 1919-39, (Jacqueline Chambon) isbn-10: 2877111741 isbn-13: 978-2877111744 [Δ]
Mellor, David (ed.), 1978, Germany: The New Photography 1927-33, (Arts Council of Great Britain) isbn-10: 0728701855 isbn-13: 978-0728701854 [Δ]
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Karl Blossfeldt
Blossfeldt, Karl, 1967, Urformen der Kunst, (Tübingen, Germany: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag) [Δ]
Blossfeldt, Karl, 1998, Natural Art Forms: 120 Classic Photographs, (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications) [Δ]
Albert Renger-Patzsch
Renger-Patzsch, Albert, 1928, Die Welt ist schön: Ein Hundert photographische Aufnahmen, (Munich: Kurt Wolff Verlag) [Δ]
Renger-Patzsch, Albert, 1979, Albert Renger-Patzsch: 100 Photographs, (Köln: Schürmann and Kicken; Paris: Créatis,) [Δ]
Wilde, A., Wilde, J. & Weske, T., 1997, Albert Renger-Patzsch: Photographer of Objectivity, (London: Thames & Hudson) [Δ]
August Sander
Heiting, Manfred (ed.), 1999, August Sander 1876–1964, (New York: Taschen) [Δ]
Sander, August, 1973, Men Without Masks: Faces of Germany, 1910–1938, (Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society) [Δ]
Sander, August, 1980, August Sander: Photographs of an Epoch. 1904–1959, (Millerton, NY: Aperture) [Preface by Beaumont Newhall; historical commentary by Robert Kramer] [Δ]
Sander, August, 1986, August Sander: Citizens of the Twentieth Century: Portrait Photographs 1892–1952, (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press) [Edited by Gunther Sander] [Δ]
Sander, August, 2003, Antlitz der Zeit, (Munich: Schirmer/Mosel) [Δ]
Christian Schad
Lloyd, J. & Peppiatt, M., 2003, Christian Schad and the Neue Sachlichkeit, (New York: W.W. Norton & Co.) [Δ]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com
Erich Angenendt (1894-1962) • Aenne Biermann (1898-1933) • Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) • Alfred Ehrhardt (1901-1984) • Hein Gorny (1904-1967) • Ruth Hallensleben (1898-1977) • Adolf Lazi (1884-1955) • Werner Mantz (1901-1983) • Walter Peterhans (1897-1960) • Albert Renger-Patzsch (1897-1966) • August Sander (1876-1964) • Paul Wolff (1887-1951) • Willy Zielke (1902-1989) | Home > Styles and movements > New Objectivity - Neue Sachlichkeit
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