László Moholy-Nagy

The story

Moholy-Nagy taught at the Bauhaus and advocated an experimental approach to photography connected with other arts and modern technologies. His photograms recorded shadows and transparencies without a camera. Unusual viewpoints and montages also expanded his visual vocabulary. After settling in the United States, he continued his educational research. His work proposes understanding an image as an experience of perception rather than a simple copy of the visible world.

Understanding the work

Look for changes in density and transparency before identifying objects. A photogram preserves a trace of their contact, yet sometimes makes their identity almost impossible to determine.

Key works and series

Photograms; high-angle views; photomontages; experiments with light.

Sources & further exploration

• The Met — László Moholy-Nagy, Fotogramm ↗