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An artist who worked in many media, László Moholy-Nagy was hired to lead Chicago’s New Bauhaus, a school based on Bauhaus principles, in 1937. Photography was only one part of a curriculum that integrated art, industry, and society, but it was a key element; as Moholy wrote, “The illiterate of the future will be ignorant of the camera and the pen alike.” Central to his understanding of photography was the photogram, an image made by placing objects or casting shadows directly on photographic paper and exposing the arrangement to light. To Moholy, the photogram was the perfect teaching tool because it demonstrated the medium’s complete tonal range and revealed photography’s essence to be its sensitivity to light. This image, dedicated to George Barford, another instructor at the school, may have been a collaborative effort in the darkroom or a teaching example for the classroom.