KARL BLOSSFELDT

The New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit) emerged as a style in Germany in the 1920s as a challenge to Expressionism. As the name suggests this art movement was to express reality and a focus on the objective world. You are able to see New Objectivity through Blossfeldt’s works, where he makes hyper-realistic images of flowers and nature. In his work you are able to see all the details within his work and the fine lines, which supports this idea of New Objectivity within, Expressionism.

Blossfeldt’s created his own typology, by taking and studying natural elements he ‘collected’ images and presented them as an art project. I intend to do this is my own personal study when taking images of houses, therefore creating my own typology.

MOODBOARD OF HIS WORK:

Karl Blossfeldt is best known for his precise photographs of plants; however, he began his career as a sculptor, completing apprenticeships at the ironworks and foundry in Mägdesprung and the Kunstgewerbeschule (Institute of the royal arts museum) in Berlin from 1884 to 1890.

Blossfeldt first published his photographs of plants in 1928 achieving overnight fame. These images had a direct influence on artists, such as Hilla and Bernd Becher which led them to their fame of Typologies. He was inspired by nature and hence reflected this muse in his close-up photography of living organisms and plants. He was enthusiastic towards the study of nature and he spent three decades photographing nothing else but plants. For him, plants held an “artistic and architectural” pattern.

Blossfeldt’s photography career began when he was photographing botanical specimens for Moritz Meurer. Blossfeldt later continued to develop his skillset, and his collection of photographs, while he was working as a professor. Karl Blossfeldt was one of the first photographers to build his own unique camera, which was made of wood and had one metre long bellows. In the 1930s the photographs he produced with it were just as unique as the homemade contraption itself.

CRITICS:

Looking at the images, one has the eerie sensation that the forms are simultaneously known and yet completely unrecognizable.

https://www.artbook.com/blog-at-first-sight-karl-blossfeldt.html

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

Emotional Response:

These images are presented hyper-realistic way. Although Blossfeldt photographed these images through his own camera , the photograph of the plant seems unrealistic due to the sharpness and the in depth lines and details of the flower. The flower is presented as isolated and dangerous, perhaps when Blossfeldt took this image he was attempting to shows how nature individually is beautiful.

Visual – what we can see in the image

In this image you are able to see a single flower, which seems to be on a muted background. This is to have the focal point on the flower, which leads you from the stem to the petals. By putting the image in the middle thirds it draws your attention straight to the image and leads you through the shape of the flower. In the image you can clearly see all the stems and every detail in the image. This image is basic and plain yet holds so much power in the message that Blossfeldt is trying to present, the beauty in nature.

Contextual – who, when, where etc…the story, background, impact:

Karl Blossfeldt was one of the first photographers to build his own unique camera, which was made of wood and had one metre long bellows. In the 1930s the photographs he produced with it were just as unique as the homemade contraption itself.