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Silphium Laciniatum

Karl Blossfeldt
  • $85.00

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

Add Custom Frame

SHIPPING FOR FRAMES ONLY AVAILABLE WITHIN U.S.

The original architect of everything is nature herself, and nobody knew that better than German photographer and sculptor Karl Blossfeldt.

When Blossfeldt, a sculptural iron caster in the early 1880s, switched to studying illustration in Berlin at the Kunstgewerbemuseum, he received a life-changing scholarship from Moritz Meurer, a renowned professor of ornament and design. Meurer became his new teacher, and he had an assignment for Blossfeldt: to travel around Europe and North America photographing botanical specimens that would serve as references for Meurer’s work. To do this, Blossfeldt created a first-of-its-kind camera he'd augmented with specialty magnification lenses.

The nineteenth century was a fertile time in the field of photography, and Blossfeldt was perfectly poised to learn the craft while obsessively cataloging what would ultimately turn out to be a collection of over 6,000 photographs of plants. Both Cirsium Canum (Queen Anne Thistle) and Silphium Laciniatum (Compass Plant) are particularly architectural-looking specimens–it is extremely easy to imagine how either subject would work beautifully as a sculpture.

Blossfeldt’s Silphium Laciniatum is an almost anthropomorphic capture. The lean of the leaf is like that of a dancer arching backwards, with all limbs unfurling in a stretch. Blossfeldt’s work was set apart by his uncanny ability to capture in magnified detail not only the structural uniqueness of each bit of flora, but its character.

Cirsium Canum and Silphium Laciniatum are each exemplary of Blossfeldt’s tender genius and exacting eye. These are not just pretty pictures of plants. They elicit an emotional response. They are elegantly, reverently depicted. They are portraits. 

+ Limited-edition, exclusive to 20x200
+ Museum quality: archival inks, 100% cotton rag paper unless noted
+ Handcrafted custom-framing is available

Our quoted dimensions are for the size of paper containing the images, not the printed image itself. We do not alter the aspect ratio, nor do we crop or resize the artists’ originals. All of our prints have a minimum border of .5 inches to allow for framing.

Inkpress Duo Matte

10"x8" | Edition of 10
14"x11" | Edition of 150
20"x16" | Edition of 25
24"x20" | Edition of 10

Artist - Karl Blossfeldt

Karl Blossfeldt

Karl Blossfeldt (1865-1932) was a German photographer, sculptor, and teacher best known for his strikingly magnified portraits of plants, seeds, leaves, and other flora. Blossfeldt began his artistic career in 1881 in sculpture and iron casting at the Art Ironworks Foundry in Mägdesprung, Germany. In 1890, he became an apprentice to Moritz Meurer, a decorative artist and professor of ornament and design. Under Meurer, Blossfeldt began creating and photographing botanical specimens around Rome, Greece, and North Africa. In 1898, he took a teaching position at the School of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, where he developed a series of home-made cameras to photograph plant surfaces in hyper magnification up to 30x their natural size. For most of his life his work was used as an archive of teaching tools with the intention of inspiring young architects, sculptors, and textile artists. However, upon the 1929 publication of his book Urformen der Kunst, Blossfeldt rapidly rose to prominence in the art industry. He was praised as a pioneer of the New Objectivity movement and compared to other photography greats like Eugène Atget and August Sander.

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