In Past Show

Moholy-Nagy: Future Present at Art Institute of Chicago

A new media innovator and devotee throughout his artistic career, László Moholy-Nagy worked in a staggering array of mediums, including film, typography, sculpture, graphic and stage design, photography, painting, and writing. Moholy-Nagy was a pivotal member of the Bauhaus school, where he authored several influential design books and was a proponent of integrating art and technology. With his photograms, such as Photogram with Eiffel Tower (1925-1929), Moholy-Nagy experimented with the abstract potential of a traditionally documentary medium. The artist’s photography was also distinguished by its abstract qualities achieved through his bold experimentation with perspective. Among Moholy-Nagy’s three-dimensional works, the best known is Light Prop for an Electric Stage (1930), a mechanical sculpture that used light as a material and cast shifting shadows on the walls around it.