Karl Blossfeldt: Flowers

Karl Blossfeldt, Northern Maidenhair Fern Young Rolled-up Fronds Courtesy of the Whitechapel GalleryTake a look. It’s a wrought iron bedstead. Take another. No, it’s a detailed pencil drawing. Look closer, and the image reveals itself. A photograph of four coiled fern fronds, laid out against an unadorned background, veins, hairs, buds picked out in graphic detail. In their eerie monochrome beauty, it is continually difficult to lose the sense that they are something entirely otherworldly – an Arizona blossom,...