A World of Forms from Nature

Photographs as Models for Artists around 1900

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It was within the cultural and intellectual orbit of Secessionist Vienna that Martin Gerlach published the portfoilio volume „Formenwelt aus dem Naturreiche“ (A world of Forms from Nature) between 1902 and 1904. Combining photographs of plants and animals as well as photomicrographs in an unprecedented manner, the work in its choice of image sections and its manner of arranging them transformed scientific documents into the linear ornamentation of Jugendstil – which resulted in a model collection of a very special kind.