Flowers made of glass is an unusual expression of floral art, but the more than 4,300 models in the collection at Harvard University were not intended as art objects. Instead, these were teaching tools showing a selection of primarily North American native plants and frequently grown exotics for botany students in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Created by the Czech father-and-son team of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka, this collection was revived by a major conservation effort and enhancement of the exhibit space over the last ten years.
Celebrating that effort is a new book: “Glass Flowers: Marvels of Art and Science at Harvard.” There are several authors, but the stars of this book are the amazingly close-up and fine focused photographs by Natalja Kent. There have been earlier books on this collection, but none capture the beauty of this restored collection like this new publication.
Excerpted from the Summer 2021 issue of the Arboretum Bulletin