BLOSSFELDT (Karl). - Lot 29

BLOSSFELDT (Karl). Karl Blossfeldt. Photographs 1865–1932. Text by Rolf Sachsse. Cologne, Taschen, 1994. Large quarto, publisher’s hardcover with illustrated dust jacket. A definitive edition devoted to the work of German photographer Karl Blossfeldt (1865–1932), one of the leading figures of New Objectivity. The book, written by photography historian Rolf Sachsse, traces the career of this Berlin teacher whose extraordinary botanical studies, produced between the late 19th century and the 1930s, had a profound impact on the history of modern photography. The reproductions bring together the famous enlargements of plants—stems, buds, ferns, leaves, inflorescences, and plant structures—that revealed nature’s hidden architecture. Originally intended for teaching drawing, these images were published in 1928 under the title *Urformen der Kunst* and had a lasting influence on the Bauhaus, industrial design, and modernist photography. Richly illustrated, this volume places Blossfeldt’s work within its artistic and scientific context, while presenting a substantial selection of his most iconic photographs. A fine copy despite some slight signs of wear on the dust jacket.