László Moholy-Nagy

a unique object, numbered '6' and inscribed with a directional arrow in an unidentified hand in pencil on the reverse, matted, early 1940s

Collection of Sybil Moholy-Nagy, the photographer's widow

Private Collection

Sotheby's New York, 31 October and 1 November 1989, Sale 5921, Lot 442

Acquired by the present owner from the above

This large, unique photogram is on heavy single-weight paper with a very glossy surface. The paper's glossy surface serves to accentuate the sense of depth and space of the composition. While the photogram does have a number of condition issues, these are minor, and none of them detracts in a significant way from its impressive appearance. There is a 3 3/4 –inch crease running along the lower portion of the left edge – this breaks the emulsion only slightly. When examined in raking light, two handling creases can be seen below the center of the top edge. Further close examination under raking light reveals some minor inconsistencies in the print's surface, typical of photographs with a very glossy surface. There is insignificant wear and consequent minute chipping of the emulsion on the print's edges.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The photogram offered here was made during Moholy-Nagy's Chicago years, when he headed the 'New Bauhaus,' or School of Design, as it was later called.  Moholy authorities Floris M. Neusüss and Renate Heyne have pointed out that a related photogram composition was used on the cover of the School of Design's course catalogue for 1939-40 (reproduced in Taken by Design: Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937 – 1971, p. 28, fig. 18).  The present lot was one of a significant group of Moholy photograms and other photographs sold in these rooms in 1988 and 1989, and came originally from the collection of Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, the photographer's widow.  A photograph taken in Marseille in 1929, comprising Lot 20 of this catalogue, was part of this same group. 

Moholy-Nagy experimented with the photogram throughout his prolific career, and never lost his enthusiasm for its expressive potential and its challenges.  Over a course of decades, he became a master at manipulating the components of the process—light, photographic paper, and objects—to create the effects he desired.  In the photogram offered here, characteristic of the bold, graphic work of his Chicago years, Moholy has produced a formally abstract image that conveys at once a sense of dynamic motion and three-dimensional space using the simplest of shapes. 

In 1937, Moholy-Nagy was invited to open an industrial design school in Chicago.  The 'New Bauhaus,' as the school was called, operated for only a short time before losing its financial support.  Moholy-Nagy pulled together a new group of backers to found the School of Design, which operated under that name until 1944, when it was re-christened the Institute of Design.  In each of these incarnations, the photogram was central to the photography curriculum.  For Moholy, the photogram offered the student an opportunity to grasp the fundamental principles of photography.  As a didactic exercise, he believed, it gave the beginning photographer an understanding of the nature of light, its action upon photosensitive materials, and the ways in which it could be manipulated.

Moholy wrote, '[Photograms] provide richer and more important insights into the meaning of the photographic procedure than do shots often taken quite mechanically with the camera . . . The light sensitive layer—paper or plate—is a tabula rasa, a blank page on which one may make notes with light, just as the painter working on his canvas in a sovereign way uses his tools, brush and pigment.  Anybody who has once mastered the meaning of writing with light in producing photographs without a camera (photograms) will obviously also be able to work with a camera' (Photography is Manipulation of Light, 1928, reprinted in Bauhaus Photography, p. 127).

The photogram offered here will be included in Floris M. Neusüss's and Renate Heyne's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Moholy-Nagy photograms.