Equisetum Hyemale (Rough Horsetail) before 1928

Karl Blossfeldt made this gelatin silver print called Equisetum Hyemale, or Rough Horsetail, sometime during his career. These three horsetails are lined up like specimens in a lab, but they’re also totemic, like a family portrait of strange, striated beings. I think of Agnes Martin and her grids, and the impulse to find order and pattern in the world. What was Blossfeldt thinking when he arranged these plants? He must have been fascinated by the way the light catches on their ridged surfaces, the way they seem both ancient and futuristic. I see something else too, something almost comical in their upright stance. They’re like little soldiers standing at attention, or maybe tiny skyscrapers reaching for the sky. Blossfeldt saw potential in forms that others overlooked, turning humble plants into monumental studies. These plants feel connected to a deep history of image-making, which continues today.