A Response to Wonder: Charles Jones, Karl Blossfeldt, and Edward Weston

A Response to Wonder at the Howard Greenberg Gallery surveys the nature-focused works of Charles Jones, Karl Blossfeldt, and Edward Weston. Through a series of photographs, this exhibition conveys how 3 different artists perceive and represent elements of the natural world. 

Charles Jones, though unrecognized as an artist in his lifetime, was celebrated for his agricultural skills as a gardener. His golden-toned silver gelatin prints capture his intimate perspective of the world. In one striking image, a flower is shown isolated from its surroundings against a plain background, capturing the detail of its delicate petals. 

Karl Blossfeldt’s images take a similar creative approach, as he documents botanical specimens through a close up technique. Using lenses he crafted himself, he magnified plants to reveal their structure. His portrait of a Soft Acanthus plant leaves little to the imagination, creating a scientific yet artistic view of the plant's symmetry and texture.

Edward Weston’s work approaches photography with focus, as he was a part of the f/64 art group, working alongside artists like Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham. His image of a red cabbage sliced in half, exudes intensity through its careful focus and composure. Viewers can see every vein-like crevice of the living surface, just as the modernist group advocated. 

This exhibition surprisingly reveals that Jones's images predate the works of Blossfeldt and Weston by several years. Being able to experience the work together in one space feels increasingly significant with this information. Not only does A Response to Wonder captures the timelessness of the works but it also responds to my curiosity about the private lives of artists, as their contributions are continually reworked into photographic history. 

- Kaitlyn Eoff*