László Moholy-Nagy: Space, Transparency, Translucency & Opacity

 Many years ago, I wrote several blogs on the Bauhaus School in Germany. It existed from 1919-1933 when the Nazis pressured the school to close. The school's art and designs offered a new way to look at the combination of industry and art. Many of the designs in everyday furniture and furnishings owes its shapes to the Bauhaus. The same goes for art. 

 

Among the artists/teachers, who taught there, was László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946) Born in Hungary, he was not only a photographer and painter, but also one of the most influential educators in the United States after WW1. He brought his Bauhaus teaching style to the Chicago Institute of Design.

 

 

His restless nature had him experimenting with different art techniques. Whether he was painting, creating photographs or sculpting with Plexiglass, he was mostly interested in how the elements interacted. His vast curiosity cannot be covered in one blog. I've chosen to feature his paintings here.

 

My selecting his paintings over all his other accomplishments has a personal reason. You see, I was so taken with his style in college that I tried painting a few of them with oil paint - assuming that's what was available to him. 

 

By trying to replicate his works, I came to understand how very complex were his paintings and how much restraint he exercised to leave a great deal of negative space. 

Moholy-Nagy's works are bold, certain and geometric. Yet, there seems to be a rhythm I see that I don't often find in other abstract works. Plus the amount of negative space makes the overall effect more restful.

 

In 2019, there was a celebration of the anniversary of the Bauhaus and 3 years before he received national acclaim with solo shows in 3 leading Art Institutions in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York. 

To quote a magazine article in Artland: "His paintings are constructed of simplified, geometric forms that are often overlapping, creating a careful study about space, transparency, translucency, and opacity."

 

Moholy-Nagy and Me

Last blog, I wrote about the Bauhaus School but there was a particular professor who I did not include. His name was Laszlo Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946).

Moholy-Nagy was a painter , lithographer, photographer, sculptor, print maker, industrial designer... and the list of his accomplishments goes on. As a Bauhaus School professor, he promoted the marrying of art with industry. This philosophy is reflected in his work.

I came across Moholy-Nagy' works while I was at the university. He had made a series of paintings in a style described as "constructivism" and I was curious about his method.

For all the simplicity of his geometric designs, he created a complex sense of space and floating objects. He succeeded in moving art away from traditional perspective and I wanted to figure out how he did it.

It does seem that oil paints and school terms don't work together very well. Each application of paint had to dry before the next. The process was slow going and I barely finished before the finals. However, the experience left me with a deep appreciation for the precision and planning in Moholy-Nagy's works.
(Below left sides are Moholy-Nagy paintings and my small efforts are on the right.)