We’ve had so much going on over the last couple of weeks that we quite forgot to share our April art with you!  As you know, we like to share a piece of garden-related art each month.  For the whole of 2022, we’re showing you photographs by Karl Blossfeldt.  Blossfeldt plant photos are amazing!

So, a little late, here is our April choice: Blossfeldt’s Adiantum Pedatum, the northern maidenhair fern.   You may have already seen our earlier posts of this artist’s work (if not, check out this link to our  Blossfeldt cephalaria post).    If you’ve read earlier posts, you’ll know that he was an important figure in plant photography.  He took his pictures early in the twentieth century, using modified home-made cameras.  These allowed him to achieve levels of magnification that had never been seen before.

The young fronds of the northern maidenhair fern, just beginning to unfurl, demonstrate how nature lends itself so well to human design.  These fronds look almost like wrought iron instead of plant matter!  So many Blossfeldt plant photos have this quality.  The magnification helps us to see architectural and sculptural forms that we wouldn’t notice at a casual glance.  This is how his photographs take on the quality of art, instead of being merely records of what he was looking at.

We hope you’re enjoying our regular shares of art for garden lovers.  If so, there’ll be another one coming in a few weeks time.