Karl Blossfeldt

Known for: Stark, rigorously composed, and highly detailed close-ups of botanical specimens.

Did you know … ?
“¢ His photographs were intended as guides for industrial designers and art students to demonstrate the structure and the beauty inherent in plant forms.
“¢ Blossfeldt originially printed his photographs in a silver gelatin format, which was unsuccessful. Blossfeldt then turned his botanical studies into a book of photogravures,
“Urformen der Kunst” (“Forms of Nature”).
“¢ As a young man, he apprenticed in a metal foundry.

Quote:
“My botanical documents should contribute to restoring the link with nature. They should reawaken a sense of nature, point to its teeming richness of form, and prompt the viewer to observe for himself the surrounding plant world.”

How many photographs exist?
The first printing of the book “Urformen der Kunst” was 150 in 1928-1929.

How are the photographs printed and signed?
Blossfeldt’s photogravures were not individually signed, though some signed copies of the book do exist.

Vintage:
The first edition photogravures are all vintage.

Technical Information:
The photogravure process was popular in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A descendent from the printmaking process of etching, photogravures utilize a copper plate. The result provides an almost velvety appearance to the image.

Fonte: http://www.agallery.com/Pages/photographers/blossfeldt.html