Born on July 20, 1895, László Moholy-Nagy was a Hungarian artist known for his constructivism, integrating industrial and technology into design.
At age 16, László was a writer. Some of his poems were published in local daily newspapers. A couple of years later, he studied law at the University of Budapest.
While servicing in the Austro-Hungarian army, he began tinkering with sketching, watercolors, writing about his wartime experiences. After being injured and then discharged, László attended a private art school.
In the early 1920, László moved to Berlin. He met photographer and writer Lucia Schulz, who he then married. She introduced him to making photograms--a photographic technique using light-sensitive photographic paper. They separated in 1929.
In 1923, he took a teaching and leadership role at the Bauhaus in Weimar, Germany. There he developed his art of photography, typography, sculpture, painting, printmaking, film-making, and industrial design.
He's credited for coining the term Neues Sehen (New Vision), which became an art movement of photographic expression where the lens of the camera becomes a second eye for looking at the world. László is also considered the first interwar artist to suggest the use of scientific equipments to make art.
In collaboration with Hungarian architect Istvan Seboek, he constructed an early example of light art called the Light-Space Modulator, a kinetic sculpture using industrial materials like reflective metals and plexiglass. It was featured at the Deutscher Werkbund exhibition in 1930.
László put his creativity in photography, theatre stage design, advertisement, writer, and filmmaker. In 1931, he met actress and scriptwriter Sibylle Pietzsch and got married the following year. They collaborated to make the classic film Ein Lichtspiel: schwarz weiss grau ("A Lightplay: Black White Gray"), a film based on the Light-Space Modulator.
In 1935, László moved his family to England after the Nazis came to power in Germany. In England, he worked in commercial design, architectural photography, special effects designer, and filmmaking.
During this time, he began experimenting with painting on transparent plastics, like Perspex. László created kinetic sculptures and abstract light effects for the Neo-classic film Things to Come.
His artworks were included in the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition, held by the Nazis in Munich in 1937. The exhibition included works from internationally renowned artists and was designed to inflame public opinion against modernism.
In 1937, László moved to Chicago to become the director of the New Bauhaus. Although the school closed after a year due to financial backing, László opened the School of Design in Chicago, which then became part of the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology.
For the remainder of his life, László continued during commercial work design. He produced artworks in multiple media, including using static and mobile sculptures in transparent plastic.
He passed away on November 24, 1946 after being diagnosed with leukemia.
Light Space Modulator (1922-1930)
Perpe (1919)
Vertical black, red, and blue (1945)
via Hauser & Wirth
No comments:
Post a Comment