Before and after. This distinctive European spruce, aka Norway spruce (Picea abies) was collected in Switzerland in 1993. It's now 25cm high and around 100 years old. The pot (on the right) is by Mateusz Grobeiny. The artist and owner of the tree is Walter Pall.
The before shot is actually an intermediate shot, taken well after the tree was collected and had been styled some. Now, though you can tell it’s the same tree, the transformation is radical and far from a highly stylized bonsai.
Often with before and after shots, the progression is from wild with potential to styled and sophisticated. Walter Pall’s trees often progress from wild with potential to still wild but transformed into compelling natural looking bonsai.
Continued below…
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After. A closer look
There used to be a bit of debate about naturalistic vs more stylized bonsai, but that was long ago. Now that our bonsai tastes are maturing, it seems that trees are evaluated individually, rather than in relation to other trees. Or in relation to manufactured notions of style.
All the images featured in this post are from Walter Pall’s facebook photos.
Before. A closer look
An intermediate stage