László Moholy-Nagy

oversized, signed ‘L. Moholy=Nagy,’ titled, dated, and signed, inscribed, and dated 'to John Marshall, with many greetings, Moholy, Chicago, Oct 3/46' and signed in ink, and with reduction notations in red pencil on the reverse, 1929

The photographer to John Marshall, 1946

Sotheby’s New York, 7 April 1995, Sale 6684, Lot 70

Andreas Haus, Photographs and Photograms (New York, 1980), pl. 12

Leland Rice and David W. Steadman, Photographs of Moholy-Nagy from the Collection of William Larson (Claremont College, 1975), p. 50

Herbert Molderings and Floris Neusüss, Photogramme 1922-1943 (Munich, 1995), p. 195

Olivia Maria Rubelo, Vincenzo Vitiello, et al., László Moholy-Nagy, The Art of Light (Madrid: Circulo de Bellas Artes, 2010), p. 41

This very large and impressive photograph is on heavy double-weight paper with a semi-glossy surface. The print is trimmed to the image, and has wear on the edges and corners, and some attendant minute loss of emulsion. Small portions of both upper corners are missing. Creases are present in the lower corners, and several handling creases are visible in the image. While these issues are apparent upon observation, they do not diminish the impact of this large and dramatic print. The reverse of the print is quite soiled, and there are tape and glue remains which suggest that the print was at one time affixed to a mount. Moholy's writing on the reverse is still dark and robust. His signature and title appear at the bottom right, while his inscription -- written later, and in a shakier hand -- appears to the right of and below the center.
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This large print was given by László Moholy-Nagy to John Marshall, a director of the Rockefeller Foundation who channeled funds to Moholy’s Institute of Design at a crucial time.  In 1937, Moholy had arrived in Chicago to found the New Bauhaus, with funds provided by a number of industrial donors.  Beset by organizational and financial difficulties, the school was short-lived.  Undaunted, Moholy began plans for a new school, using all that he had in his personal bank account as seed money.  While the new incarnation of the school quickly established itself as a center for advanced art and design, it was never far from insolvency.  Its financial precariousness was worsened by the onset of the Second World War, as staff and students were recruited into the armed forces and materials became scarce.   

To bolster the school’s ability to hire and pay teachers, Moholy again began a campaign to raise money.  As Sybil Moholy-Nagy recounts in her memoir, Moholy-Nagy: An Experiment in Totality, the ‘amicable and progressive’ John Marshall, in his capacity as a director of the Rockefeller Foundation, donated $7,500 to the school for the purchase of photographic and motion picture equipment.  And in 1944, the Foundation came through again with a personal grant of $5,000 to allow Moholy to complete his last book, Vision in Motion (pp. 187 and 219).

John Marshall (1903-1980), a Harvard graduate, joined the Humanities Division of the Rockefeller Foundation in 1933.  He is credited with re-envisioning the Division and its goals, embracing not only traditional disciplines, but also the emerging fields of communications, media, film, and radio.