László Moholy-NagyAmerican, 1895–1946Berlin Radio Tower
May one see it?
Not receiving at present
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Over the winter and spring of 1927–28, Bauhaus professor László Moholy-Nagy took a series of perhaps nine views looking down from the Berlin Radio Tower, one of the most exciting new constructions in the German capital. Moholy had already photographed the Eiffel Tower in Paris from below, looking up through the tower’s soaring girders. In Berlin, however, Moholy turned his camera around and pointed it straight down at the ground. This plunging perspective showed off the spectacular narrowness of the Radio Tower, finished in 1926, which rose vertiginously to a height of 450 feet from a base seven times smaller than that of its Parisian predecessor (which opened in 1889).
Read on
Moholy attached exceptional importance to this, his boldest image: he hung it just above his name in a room devoted to his work at the Berlin showing of Film und Foto, a mammoth traveling exhibition that he had helped to prepare. Moholy also chose this view and one other to offer Julien Levy, the pioneering art dealer, when Levy visited him in Berlin in 1930. The following year the pictures went on view at the Levy Gallery in New York, in Moholy’s first solo exhibition of photographs.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1979.84
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — © the artist or rights holder
Meanwhile, in the life of László Moholy-Nagy
The whole life1920–1933 · Residence
Berlin
1927–1929
Photography editor of “i 10”
From 1927 to 1929 Moholy-Nagy was photography editor of the Dutch avant-garde magazine International Revue i 10.
1928
Leaves the Bauhaus for his own Berlin studio
In 1928 Moholy-Nagy left the Bauhaus (Marianne Brandt took over the metal workshop) and set up his own design studio in Berlin, employing István Seboek, György Kepes and Andor Weininger. He designed sets for operatic and theatrical productions (including Erwin Piscator's political theatre) as well as exhibitions and books, ad campaigns and films.
1929
Helps organise “Film und Foto” in Stuttgart
Moholy-Nagy was brought in to help organise the famous “Film und Foto” exhibition in Stuttgart.
1929
Separates from Lucia
In 1929 Moholy-Nagy separated from his first wife Lucia, photographer and collaborator in his photogram experiments.
