László Moholy-Nagy

Hungarian painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) was one of the Bauhaus’ most esteemed faculty members as coteacher of the school’s foundational course and the director of the metalworking studio. This 1929 text explores the educational ethos that informed Moholy-Nagy’s personal teaching approach as well as the Bauhaus school on the whole: “Jedermann ist begabt” (everyone is talented).
This publication focuses on the foundational course developed by Moholy-Nagy, a curriculum built on structure, texture and organization, with observational exercises for students that emphasize tactility. It also touches upon Moholy-Nagy’s interest in photographic technology and its effects on human perception.
As the final volume in the publisher’s Bauhausbücher series, Lars Müller has released a facsimile edition of Moholy-Nagy’s text translated into English with the original design and typography.

Offered a position at the Weimar Bauhaus in 1923, László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946) soon belonged to the inner circle of Bauhaus masters. When the school moved to Dessau, Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius began a fruitful collaboration as joint publishers of the Bauhausbücher series.

In addition to designing and editing the Bauhausbücher, Moholy-Nagy produced a title of his own: the legendary Painting, Photography, Film. In this book, Moholy-Nagy’s efforts to have photography and filmmaking recognized as art forms on the same level as painting are propounded and explained at length. The artist makes the case for a radical rethinking of the visual arts and the further development of photographic design to keep pace with a radically changing technological modernity.

Alongside theoretical and technical approaches and forays into the nature of the medium, Moholy-Nagy uses an extensive appendix of illustrations to provide a thorough survey of the numerous possibilities that photography and film could offer—from press photography and scientific imagery to Moholy-Nagy’s own abstract photograms and New Vision photographs.

This English translation of Painting, Photography, Film is based in content and design on the 1925 German first edition, making the latter available to an international readership for the first time. The publication includes a brief scholarly text providing crucial contextual information and reflecting on the history and legacy of Moholy-Nagy’s book.