Paul DobePhotographische Naturstudien und Formfindung

The painter and botanical draughtsman Paul Dobe (1880–1965): Paul Dobe’s plant photographs had long fallen into oblivion, until a chance find in connection with research on the Folkwang-Auriga-Verlag brought them back to public attention. Responsible for this is the art historian Rainer Stamm, who assembled a partly photographic group of works by Dobe and placed it at the disposal of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur as a permanent loan. What is particularly striking about Paul Dobe’s photographs is their systematic approach. In a scientific, documentary manner he circles his subject – the native world of plants – deducing types and structural principles and, throughout, searching for an underlying law of form. One may speak of a serial comparison, which places Paul Dobe’s approach close to such pioneering figures in the history of art as Karl Blossfeldt, August Sander and Bernd and Hilla Becher – all of them central positions in the holdings of Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur. Alongside the depictions of plants, the publication also includes in particular Paul Dobe’s photographs of various cloud formations.

Exhibition:
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur, Köln, 2/3–8/7/2018