László Moholy-Nagy Sil I 1933

Biography

Born 1895
Died 1946
Nationality Hungarian
Birth place Bácsborsód, Bács-Kiskun, Hungary
Death place Chicago

Moholy-Nagy was born in Hungary. He studied law at Budapest University and took up art in 1917, while recovering from a wound he received in the First World War. Entirely self-taught, Moholy-Nagy had a methodical and rational approach to art. From 1923 to 1928 he taught at the Bauhaus in Germany at that time the most advanced art school in Europe. Moholy-Nagy's work of the 1920s was strongly influenced by the abstract geometric forms of the Russian Suprematists. He was a highly innovative artist and pioneering in his use of light and movement.

Glossary terms

Glossary terms

Bauhaus

An influential German school of art and design founded in Dessau in 1919 under the architect Walter Gropius. It was based on workshop training rather than academic studios, and is celebrated for its functional design.

Degenerate Art

The term Degenerate Art ('Entarte Kunst' in German), was coined in the 1930s by the Nazis to ridicule modern art that did not fit with Hitler’s vision'. Confiscated by the German government, exhibitions of 'Degenerate' art took place in cities including Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig. In addition to this ridicule, the Nazi's banned artists branded with the term from exhibiting or holding teaching posts.