Stachys Menthifolia (Wound Wort) and Nicotiana Rustica (Tobacco Plant) before 1928

Karl Blossfeldt made this photogravure, Stachys Menthifolia and Nicotiana Rustica, with photography and etching, at an unknown date. It's like he's not just showing us plants, but revealing an architectural secret. Look at the plant on the left – it's all fuzzy and soft, but the way he's framed it, it almost looks like a brutalist sculpture, right? It's got this strange, alien geometry, each leaf precisely detailed, like a blueprint. Then, shift your gaze to the right-hand side where the stark, bare tobacco plant is sitting. It is devoid of leaves, all angles and shadow, like a winter tree. Blossfeldt’s work always reminds me of the New Topographics photographers; they all shared this fascination with the underlying structures of things. It's like he's saying, "Hey, look at this thing closely, maybe closer than you ever have before." Art's not about answers, it's about asking better questions.