29th Feb- 24th March 2024
Witness an exemplary set of Karl Blossfedt’s signature close-up images of plants and flora.
Karl Blossfeldt: Art Forms in Nature is a Hayward Touring exhibition which presents an original portfolio of 40 photogravures from 1932, entitled ‘Wundergarten der Natur’, edited by the artist and published in the year of his death.
Blossfeldt (1865-1932) is regarded as one of the defining photographers of the twentieth century for his exceptional contribution to the art through his intricate botanical photographs. During his career, which spanned over three decades and included 6,000 photographs, Blossfeldt developed homemade cameras and lenses which enabled him to magnify his subjects by up to 30 times. In doing so he captured the microcosmic aesthetic of his specimens and revealed the underlying structures of nature, which until then remained unexplored.
Blossfeldt originally trained as a sculptor and his amateur interest in botany lead him to explore naturally occurring forms which to his artist eye had a sculptural quality. In 1928, he was convinced to publish portfolios of images which he had previously only used as teaching tools and as aides memoires for his sculptural practice. These portfolios were compiled under the over-arching title Urformen der Kunst (Artforms in Nature). The publication became an overnight sensation, praised by figures including philosophers Walter Benjamin, George Bataille and artist Maholy-Nagy for its commendable photographic technicality and for its objective portrayal of an ‘unknown universe’. His photographs also became highly celebrated amongst early modernists and Surrealists during the late 1920s.
About Hayward Gallery Touring
Hayward Gallery Touring is the UK’s largest and longest-standing not for profit organisation producing exhibitions of modern and contemporary art that tour to galleries, museums and other publicly funded venues throughout Britain. Funded by Arts Council England and based at the Southbank Centre, London, Hayward Gallery Touring collaborates with independent curators, artists, writers and galleries to create ambitious exhibitions that are beyond the scope of a single institution. Ranging in scale from the British Art Show – the largest exhibition of contemporary art produced in the UK – to smaller monographic shows, our imaginative exhibitions are seen by up to half a million people in over 40 cities and towns each year.
About the Southbank Centre
The Southbank Centre is the UK’s largest arts centre occupying a prominent riverside location that sits in the midst of London’s most vibrant cultural quarter on the South Bank of the Thames. We exist to present great cultural experiences that bring people together and we achieve this by providing the space for artists to create and present their best work and by creating a place where as many people as possible can come together to experience bold, unusual and eye-opening work. We want to take people out of the everyday, every day.
Workshops & Events:
Patternistas X Karl Blossfeldt Workshop
Friday 15th March – £5 | 11 – 1pm
Get inspired by the incredible prints of Karl Blossfeldt as part of The Turner Hose’s current exhibition Artforms in Nature.
Join Suzanne of Patternistas for a pattern focused workshop session.
Creating an installation in the downstairs gallery using paper cut outs and photocopies based on the natural motifs from the exhibition.
To add a boost of joyful colour we’ll be working with beautiful papers supplied by Italian paper manufacturer Fedrigoni.
All materials will be supplied. No experience necessary. All you need to bring is your enthusiasm for two hours of uplifting paper play.
We look forward to seeing you there.
