Author
James Darton
Contributing Editor
“The plant must be valued as a totally artistic and architectural structure,” said the photographer Karl Blossfeldt, which gives some insight into the particular type of reverence he had for his subjects. Blossfeldt was primarily a teacher for much of his career, and the startling images of flora that he captured during the early 1900s were originally created purely as a teaching aid. Nevertheless they remain - and are acknowledged as - one of the finest bodies of nature photography to ever be taken.
Blossfeldt had no formal training to speak of, and most of the images were taken on a home-made camera that could magnify the plants up to thirty times. This revealed that ‘architecture’ Blossfeldt was so enamoured with, whilst the artistry came in the abstract beauty that such magnifications also revealed.
Blossfeldt was 63 when a book of these images were published and it instantly turned the photographer into something of an art world sensation, ranking alongside such luminaries as August Sanders and Eugene Atget. Walter Benjamin praised him as having “played his part in that great examination of the inventory of perception, which will have an unforeseeable effect on our conception of the world.” Even the surrealists were enamoured, with George Bataille including his work in the periodical Documents.
The latest creative titan to be inspired by these century-plus photos of flowers is the avant-fashion designer Jonathan Anderson, who currently heads up the resurgent Loewe alongside his own eponymous brand. Already having used prints of Blossfeldt’s work across Loewe’s SS16 womenswear collection, Anderson turned again to those starkly beautiful pictures when devising his first perfume for the Spanish brand. Here Blossfeldt’s images are fused to the awkward tensions and complex allure of Anderson’s scent, a concoction of tangerine, bergamot and sandalwood notes amongst others. As is often the case with Anderson’s work, the influence of Blossfeldt might not be so immediately obvious but it’s an appropriation we feel the photographer might appreciate: the beauty comes in the abstraction.
![1 Floom Magazine Karl Blossdeldt Loewe Oscar Ren 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_oscar_ren_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=3ceed92ce82af9abaeff98e52e9f1a3c 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_oscar_ren_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=bd6204c35401269b4305b65d11eb66e5 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_oscar_ren_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=42e2e58f11f42eb64770070e2381d679 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_oscar_ren_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=c43e3db4b36caf3970a6e6f074c1b0f7 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Karl Blossdeldt Loewe Michael Hoppen Gallery 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=ad4c6a863682df16af4df1cb0665f7d5 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=49e30e5cfdd604dd2691f6d60ea3511f 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=b62dd0970414c5ce7b24679543e7da56 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=e6d4e5e43ac6c464cc637d54f3040b16 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Karl Blossdeldt Loewe Diptique Paris](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_diptique_paris.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=c80ca4071fe0b82f27cf606c826f5e88 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_diptique_paris.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=5a17bb59a250bc2c4d497eac50d6bd1d 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_diptique_paris.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=df4c760ca0d4bda57560e17a051420f5 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_diptique_paris.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=a0f1ad61c48de1bbb572cbc3e6578047 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Karl Blossdeldt Loewe Moma 1](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_moma_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=0fe4791fbd3129109a63c6636ab85d4c 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_moma_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=4b3ff4c22b75894b23ebd6ba87920eb2 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_moma_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=a9d3f9ea1240bde7305152ae492ebc4d 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_moma_1.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=51e1c88530612c2fe6c243ec9f8371a4 400w)
![1 Floom Magazine Karl Blossdeldt Loewe Michael Hoppen Gallery](https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1440&s=2c22c8b43d5d74a9bb267fd6e84ecdef 1440w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=1000&s=b91703bec0d647c060aca37623d909a8 1000w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=600&s=87875149f178df39a2fb416846c282e7 600w, https://floom.imgix.net/products/1_floom_magazine_karl_blossdeldt_loewe_michael_hoppen_gallery.jpg?auto=format&crop=focalpoint&fit=crop&fm=pjpg&fp-x=0.5&fp-y=0.5&ixlib=php-1.1.0&q=65&w=400&s=1337b2c77603ebe964923d3bc74f995c 400w)
Photo Credit
Oscar Ren Fotos
Michael Hoppen Gallery
Moma
Diptique Paris