Artworks

KARL BLOSSFELDT (German, 1865 - 1932)

While Karl Blossfeldt spent the majority of his life studying and teaching sculpture, he is best known for his botanical photographs, which toe the line of scientific illustration and fine art. 

Blossfeldt began his artistic career in his teenage years as a sculpture apprentice at the Art Ironworks and Foundry. He went on to study ornamental design at the Royal School of the Museum of Decorative Arts in 1881 and later became a professor at the same school, where he taught students design techniques based on nature. Though he had no formal experience with photography, Blossfeldt made his own cameras and photographed botanical images to use as a reference in class. These images were solely used for educational purposes until 1925, when gallerist Karl Neindorf mounted them in a solo show, earning Blossfeldt nearly immediate fine-art success. Blossfeldt’s work has been included in several pivotal photography exhibitions, such as Film und Foto (1929). Today, his work can be found in museums such as the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and more.