László Moholy-Nagy 1895-1946

Charles W. Niedringhaus, Pennsylvania (acquired directly from the artist)
Lawrence Glasson
Thence by descent to the present owner

Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, 1969, no. 83
Springfield, Illinois State Museum, Moholy-Nagy: A New Vision for Chicago, 1991

Good condition. Medium appears to be artist prepared board that consists of paper mounted on board. There are a few small very faint waterstains that appear to be inherent to the process. Some minor surface losses in extreme bottom edge, and in the extreme corners. A few very small scratch in green at upper left.
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The authenticity of this work has kindly been confirmed by Hattula Moholy-Nagy.

This gouache and collage was originally given by László Moholy-Nagy to his student and friend, Charles Niedringhaus, in 1942. Niedringhaus (1915 - 2002) studied under Moholy-Nagy at the School of Design in Chicago, where he was one of five members of the School's first graduating class in 1942. Sybil Moholy-Nagy, describes the School of Design during this period as a hotbed of creativity: "Charles Niedringhaus and Jack Waldheim developed a new line of plywood furniture. Within two years [of the school's inception] the students of the School of Design filed seventeen applications for patents" (Sybil Moholy-Nagy, Moholy-Nagy: A Biography, New York, 1950, p. 175). Niedringhaus went on to become a designer for Knoll Associates, the innovative furniture manufacturer, in 1946, ultimately heading its New York office. At Knoll, Niedringhaus frequently acted as a liaison between designers, such as Isamu Noguchi and Harry Bertoia and the company's production managers. Upon Niedringhaus's death, Light Forms passed to his friend, the artist and teacher Lawrence Glasson.

In the spring of 1937, at the recommendation of Walter Gropius, Moholy-Nagy was invited by an American trade organization, the Association of Arts and Industries, to open an industrial design school in Chicago. Moholy-Nagy accepted, and in the fall of 1937, The New Bauhaus opened in the old Marshall Field mansion on Chicago's south side. When support for the school faltered after its first year, Moholy-Nagy put together a new group of backers and re-opened the school, in new premises, as the School of Design.