['Plant Studies', 'Urformen der Kunst: photographische Pflanzenbilder'] 1928

Karl Blossfeldt made this photograph, Plant Studies, at an unknown date with gelatin silver print. The monochrome palette strips away any distractions of colour so we can focus on the inherent geometry of nature. It's about form, line, and the way a plant reaches out into the world. There is a delicate balance between the softness of the plant's velvety texture and the starkness of the photographic medium. Look at how the light catches the edges of each leaf, making them appear almost like sharp blades. This interplay between soft and hard, organic and geometric, is so striking. It's like he's inviting us to see the plant not just as a living thing, but as a design, a blueprint. And that stem? It's a masterclass in simplicity, a single, elegant line anchoring the whole composition. Blossfeldt’s approach reminds me a little of some of the precise botanical studies of someone like Agnes Martin, but also of the Neue Sachlichkeit movement in Germany at the time he was making this work.