An Original Photogravure by Karl Blossfeldt. Ptelea trifoliate. Three-leaved Hop-tree. 1930’s. Size with mount: 50 x 39 cms.

An original photogravure by Karl Blossfeldt (1865 - 1932).

Number 52.

Ptelea trifoliata. Three-leaved Hop-tree, Shrubby Trefoil, Stinking Ash, Water-Ash. Branch with fruit enlarged 5.4 times.

Karl Blossfeldt trained in industrial art and design at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Berlin. In 1890 he received a scholarship to study in Rome where, under Moritz Meuer, he cast models of botanical specimens that were to be used by craftsmen and manufacturers in industry. They also photographed the plants using a method developed by Meuer and it was in this photographic technique that Blossfeldt came to excel.

Back in Germany Blossfeldt continued to create photographs of plants. He believed that the best solutions in industrial design to have already been anticipated by nature. The idea never caught on but his photographs came to the attention of collectors and we’re exhibited in shows. In 1928 Blossfeldt published his first book Unformen Der Kunst (Art Forms in Nature) This was followed by Wundergarten in der Natur (Magic Garden in Nature) 1932 and Wunter in der Natur (Magic in Nature) 1942.

The photograveure printing process was popular in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. At the time it provided the most efficient means for the reproduction of photographs in quantity. A descendent of the etching process the photograveure also relied on a copper plate. A transparent positive of the photographic negative was produced and this, after processes involving bichromate and exposure to acid and light, resulted in an image with a characteristically velvety quality.

Size of image: 27 x 20.5 cms or 10 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches.

Size of mount: 50 x 39.7 cms or 19 3/8 x 15 5/8inches.

Condition: Near Fine. The image is generally clean and fresh. There are minute black dots across the surface that are integral to the original.