LASZLO - MOHOLY - NAGY - Painter, Photographer and Theoretic from Hungary
Fig. 1
Portrait of Moholy - Nagy
In this essay I am going to introduce you an artist called Laszlo-Moholy-Nagy. Who was he and what did he do for the world? He was a very gifted and multi-talented person and during his short life he managed to make an enormous contribution to the Art Movement. His huge enthusiasms for all kinds of experiments had a great impact on his art work. Firstly in paragraph one and two I will introduce you Laszlo’s family background and talk more about his childhood and studies. Paragraph three contains some information about being in the army and his first thoughts of becoming an artist. After that follow the post-war period and his beginning interest in abstract art, constructivism and continue with some of his art experiments. In second half of this essay are discussed his marriages and the most interesting Bauhaus career which is consequently ended by conclusion.
In 20th July 1895 Laszlo Moholy Nagy was born in a little village called Borsod, in southern Austria-Hungary. In later days the name of the village was renamed to Bacsborsod (fig. 2) and it is not Austria-Hungary in these days but Republic of Hungary. When Laszlo was a little boy his father left all his family. Laszlo was a middle son and had another two brothers called Jeno the oldest one and Akos the youngest one. After father’s desertion their mother decided to take all of them to her family in Ada, which is in Serbia in these days. The uncle Gusztav Nagy who lived there became their guardian. His occupation was a lawyer and he lived not far from town called Moholy, where he had his law office. Because the uncle was well established he was able to take care of all family and also afford them good financial security and pleasanter surrounding. As we can see Laszlo’s name is made up from his uncle’s surname and from the name of town. His original name was Laszlo Weisz.
fig. 2
Photograph of Bacsborsod Village, Moholy's birthplace.
Laszlo went together with his younger brother Akos to the same high school in Szeged, which was the second biggest city in Hungary at that time. But their oldest brother Jeno went to study into the capital city of Hungary into Budapest. Laszlo had a big passion for writing and he started to write poetry already during his studies at high school. He was quite good at writing poetry and some of his work was even published in local newspapers while his high school studies. Because of his great passion for writing he started to have an idea of becoming a writer. It did not happen because after his graduation in 1913 due to advice and wish of his uncle he started to study law in Budapest. Laszlo consequently moved together with all his family in the capital city. Unfortunately he was not able to finish his law studies because of 1st World War which begun and disallowed him to continue in his education.
In 1915 Moholy-Nagy came in the Austro-Hungarian army and he was an officer in the artillery. At that time he started to draw a lot, he managed to create a big number of sketches. In 1917 Moholy was injured and even it was nothing too serious, he went to Budapest for recovery. During his quite long convalescence he wrote so many short stories where he draws inspiration from his horrible war experiences. And it was the time when Moholy started to play with an idea of becoming an artist. His friend called Ivan Hevesy who was an artistic critic was supporting Moholy in his ambition. Thus, around the year 1918 Moholy signed up for evening classes at Robert Bereny’s art school which opened a door for him in the art progression (fig. 3) and gave him the opportunity to exhibit his work at school. In this time at his age 23 he began his career as an artist. Laszlo’s interest was also in photography, he was probably influenced by his girlfriend Erzsi Landau which was a photographer with her own atelier.
When the war finished, Moholy-Nagy return back to Szeged for a while and in December 1919 he moved to Vienna where he cooperated a short time with another Hungarian artists but in spring 1920 he moved to Berlin. He started to be interested in abstract art and Russian Constructivism as he was very influenced by work of the artists El Lissitzky and Kazimir Malevich. Laszlo was into development of modern art and put on his canvas images of plain geometric forms and shapes (fig.5 and fig. 6). Except of painting on canvas Laszlo also dealt with different collages on paper (fig. 7), he made all kinds of prints and also wooden, glass and metal sculptures. He was still experimenting with new art techniques, styles and materials and was the first artist who started to use transparent plastic material (fig. 4). His favorite field was a photography where was an innovator of new wave. He put all his theory into the book called ’New vision, from material to architecture’ and also experimented with new technique of photogram (fig. 8), where he put objects on photo paper and exposed them afterwards.
In 1921 Moholy got married with Lucia Schulz a successful writer, editor and photographer. She was always very supportive to Laszlo’s art ambitions. In 1922 Moholy had an exhibition at ‘Der Sturm’ where he met Walter Gropius and it was a key moment for him because he has been given the opportunity to teach at Walter’s school called Bauhaus which was a school of art, design and architecture in Weimar. In 1923 he and his wife Lucia moved from Berlin to Weimar and Moholy began to teach. He was a big promoter of modernisms and he also encouraged students to get involved with all different kinds of art as for example, typography, photography, painting, sculpture and industrial design.
fig. 9
Main Bulding of the Bauhaus University Weimar
In 1925 Bauhaus moved to Dessau and in 1928 Gropius withdrew from his directorial position in Bauhaus and Moholy with to follow left too. He and Lucia moved back to Berlin where they get divorced and Moholy started to work as a freelance artist. Most of all he was concentrating on his own art work but he also designed costumes for different theatres in Berlin, did adverts, book covers and leaflets. He also created a few short films and about seven of them still exist. One of his most popular films which he made around 1930 by Light Space Modulator (fig. 10), was called ‘Lightplay black white gray’. During his filming period he met Sibylle Pietzsch which later became his second wife. She was a reputable writer in both English and German languages and later she became art critic. They had two daughters together, Hattula and Claudia.
fig. 10
Light Space Modulator
(1922 - 1930)
In 1933 assumed power Hitler so Moholy-Nagy moved to London in the spring of 1935. He has been living in Hampstead at first and his neighbor was his good friend from Bauhaus Walter Gropius. They had a common idea to reopen Bauhaus in England but due to not enough financial resources it was not possible. Moholy applied for a work position to the Royal College of Art but he was rejected and for that reason he became a freelance artist again. He worked as a photographer and designer.
In 1937 the director of company Container Corporation of America, Walter Paepcke invited Moholy-Nagy to Chicago, where he wanted him to work for his company as a designer. Moholy also became a director of new Bauhaus in Chicago but for the reason of financial struggles it was closed. In 1939 Moholy was able to open his own School of Design because the Walter Paepcke was financially supporting him and in 1944 the school was renamed to Institute of Design. In 1945 Moholy-Nagy was diagnosed with leukemia and even his treatment was a very intensive he unfortunately did not recover and died only at age of 51 on 24th November 1946 in Chicago.
In my conclusion I have to say that we can see Laszlo’s influence in art and photograph even today and without him, the world in images would look very different. Laszlo Moholy - Nagy was a full of ideas and very multi talented person and his art work really did speak to me a lot. I have to say that I admire Laszlo’s enthusiasm for each of his idea and for development of new techniques which made a big contribution to the art movement.
Fig. 11
Portrait of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Bauhaus.
by Lucia Moholy-Nagy (1926)
Reference list:
Books:
Soucek, L. (1965) Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. Praha: Statni nakladatelstvi krasne literatury a umeni
Kalivoda, F. (1965) Vystava Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Brno 10. rijna - 7. listopadu 1965.
Brno: Dum umeni mesta Brna
Kalivoda, F. (1936) L. Moholy - Nagy. Brno: Telehor
Websites:
The Moholy-Nagy Foundation (2004) Biography 1 by Hattula Moholy - Nagy [Online].
Available at: http://www.moholy-nagy.com/Biography_1.html (Accessed: 2 May 2010)
The Moholy-Nagy Foundation (2004) Biography 2 by Hattula Moholy - Nagy [Online].
Available at: http://www.moholy-nagy.com/Biography_2.html (Accessed: 2 May 2010)
The Moholy-Nagy Foundation (2004) Biography 3 by Hattula Moholy - Nagy [Online]. Available at: http://www.moholy-nagy.com/Biography_3.html(Accessed: 2 May 2010)
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy: Biography from Answers.com (2010) Laszlo Moholy - Nagy [Online].
Available at: http://www.answers.com/topic/l-szl-moholy-nagy#Biography_d
(Accessed: 8 May 2010)
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy ARTMUSEUM.CZ (2008) Laszlo Moholy - Nagy [Online].
Available at: http://www.artmuseum.cz/umelec.php?art_id=599
(Accessed: 8 May 2010)
Images:
1.
Moholy-Nagy, L. (1932) Portrait of Moholy-Nagy, Vintage silver print [Online].
Available at: www.hartmanfineart.net/artist/gallery/41/ (Accessed: 12 May 2010)
2.
Sardi A. Zoltan, Photograph of Bacsborsod Village, Moholy’s Birthplace [Online].
Available at: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/19086165 (Accessed: 9 June 2010)
3.
Moholy-Nagy, L. (1918) Male Figure [Online]. Available at: http://www.geh.org/fm/amico99/htmlsrc2/m198121660001_ful.html#topofimage (Accessed: 9 June 2010)
4.
Moholy-Nagy, L. (1946) Leda and the Swan [Online].Available at:
Fig. 1
When the war finished, Moholy-Nagy return back to 
fig. 10
No comments:
Post a Comment