Artist: Karl Blossfeldt (German, 1865–1932)
Title/Subject: Plate 1, Equisetum hyemale (Winter Horsetail / Rough Horsetail, magnified 25x)
Medium: Vintage Silver Gelatin Layout Work Print / Production Proof
Circa: Late 1920s (Weimar Era)
Dimensions: 10.5 in. x 13.5 in. (Unframed)
Markings: Formatted with original typographical layout indicators (“I.”, “1.”) on standard wide-margin stock; reverse side is blank.

Description & Significance:
An exceptionally scarce, large-format silver gelatin work print produced during the design and transfer mapping phase of Blossfeldt’s legendary photographic catalog. Unlike the commercially distributed ink photogravures commonly found on the market, this item is a true chemical photograph on heavy, rigid photographic paper stock, prepared in Germany for cataloging and scale tracking prior to final master layout production.

Condition Note:
Features definitive, authentic period markers including straight guillotine-cut edges and classic “silver mirroring” oxidation in some but not all the deep shadow areas. Due to the high-volume environment of early 20th-century darkroom workshops, residual chemical compounds within the baryta core have catalyzed a characteristic uniform sepia fading across the central botanical subjects. Rather than a defect, this honest chemical pathology guarantees the physical age, darkroom provenance, and historical authenticity of the print. Tones are more yellow/sepia than image which was shot under florescent light. Sold as-is, unframed.

Artist Biography

Karl Blossfeldt (1865–1932) was a German sculptor, photographer, and professor who pioneered the New Objectivity movement in photography. Originally trained in sculpture and iron casting, he began photographing plants in the 1890s to create visual teaching aids for his design students at the Royal School of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin. By building custom cameras that could magnify natural subjects up to thirty times, Blossfeldt revealed intricate, sculptural structures hidden within everyday flora. Published late in his life, his landmark portfolios—most notably Urformen der Kunst (1928)—gained immediate international acclaim, bridging the worlds of scientific documentation, surrealism, and modernist industrial design.