| Dates: | 1865, 13 June - 1932, 9 December | | Born: | Germany, Harz, Schielo | | Died: | Germany, Berlin | | Active: | Germany | | Gender: | Male |
German biologist photographer best known for his highly detailed plant photographs. In 1928 he published ‘Urformen Der Kunst. Photographische Pflanzenbilder‘ (Berlin) and this along with the 1932 ‘Wundergarten der Natur‘ (Berlin) have becomes classics of the history of photography.Preparing biographies
Biography provided by Focal Press
For over 30 years, Blossfeldt produced thousands of sharp focus, black and white, close-up details of plant forms, frontally or from above, against neutral white or gray backgrounds, to reveal the elementary structures of the natural world and their relation to artistic form. By isolating and enlarging discrete portions of a subject — the characteristics, details, patterns, and textures that would otherwise go unobserved by human vision or conventional photography — Blossfeldt made the imperceptible perceptible. His book Urformen der Kunst (Archetypes of Art, 1928), became a landmark of the Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity).
(Author: Robert Hirsch - Independent scholar and writer)
Michael Peres (Editor-in-Chief), 2007, Focal Encyclopedia of Photography, 4th edition, (Focal Press) [ISBN-10: 0240807405, ISBN-13: 978-0240807409]
(Used with permission)
Readings on, or by, individual photographers
Blossfeldt, Karl, 1967, Urformen der Kunst, (Tübingen, Germany: Ernst Wasmuth Verlag) [LL_REF:682]
Blossfeldt, Karl, 1998, Natural Art Forms: 120 Classic Photographs, (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications) [LL_REF:683]
If you feel this list is missing a significant book or article please let me know - Alan - alan@luminous-lint.com
| | Portraits
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Family history
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Exhibitions on this website |
 | Karl Blossfeldt: The Books |
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All photographs by this photographer
| Wikipedia has a biography of this photographer. | Show on this site | Go to website | | Getty Research, Los Angeles, USA has an ULAN (Union List of Artists Names Online) entry for this photographer. This is useful for checking names and they frequently provide a brief biography. | | Go to website | Grove Art Online (www.groveart.com) has a biography of this artist.
[NOTE: This is a subscription service and you will need to pay an annual fee to access the content.] | Show on this site | Go to website |
The following books are useful starting points to obtain brief biographies but they are not substitutes for the monographs on individual photographers. |
If there is an analysis of a single photograph or a useful self portrait I will highlight it here. |
• Koetzle, Hans-Michael 2002 Photo Icons: The Story Behind the Pictures - Volume 1 (Koln: Taschen) [This book discusses one photograph "Maidenhair Fern (ca. 1900)" by Karl Blossfeldt in considerable detail. An excellent source for a detailed analysis.]
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