László Moholy-Nagy

positive photogram, the photographer's ‘moholy-nagy, berlin-chbg. 9, fredericiastr. 27 atelier’ studio stamp on the reverse, framed, 1925

Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Private collection, New York, early 1990s

Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, 2006

Herbert Molderings, Floris M. Neusüss, and Renate Heyne, Moholy-Nagy: The Photograms: Catalogue Raisonné (Ostfildern, 2009), fgm 236A

Leland D. Rice and David W. Steadman, Photographs of Moholy-Nagy from the Collection of William Larson (Claremont College, 1975), p. 62

This positive photogram is on double-weight paper with an eggshell surface. As is typical of Moholy's positive photograms, the paper fibers of the original photogram used as a paper negative have been rendered photographically in the present print, imparting a subtle and interesting visual texture. The print conveys a fascinating complex composition, with the shapes' heavy lines balanced by nuanced transparencies where the shapes intersect. When the print is examined very closely in high raking light, a faint soft horizontal crease can be seen running across the center of the image. This has not broken the emulsion. There is very faint wear and a slight attendant loss of emulsion on the lower right corner. A small linear area of discoloration can be seen in the upper right corner. None of these issues diminish the overall impact of this dynamic image. The print is currently hinged at the top edge with rice paper to a modern mount.
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Moholy’s exploration of the photogram process extended past the making of unique original documents to using them as a point of departure for new works. The photograph offered here is one of a number of examples of Moholy’s reinterpretation of a photogram as a positive image.  Moholy made this photograph by contact printing the original photogram (fgm 236) onto a sheet of photographic paper, producing an image whose tonal values are reversed from the original.  While the resulting print is inextricably related to its source, it presents a new aesthetic experience.  Moholy called this process ‘revaluation’ and began experimenting with it during his years in Weimar, 1923-25. 

As Moholy-Nagy authorities Renate Heyne and Floris Neusüss note, the original photogram from which this positive print was made is unlocated.  Only one other positive print of this photogram is known, in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Heyne speculates that Moholy made positive versions of 33 photograms; of these only 17 are extant, including the present example.