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1895-1946
SPACE CH2

96.5 by 76.2cm., 38 by 30in.

Painted in 1938.

signed L. Moholy-Nagy, titled and dated 1938 on the reverse

oil on canvas

The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Hattula Moholy-Nagy.

PROVENANCE

Bauhaus Archive, Berlin
Kleemann Galleries, New York
Galerie Khlim, Munich
Acquired from the above by the present owner

EXHIBITED

New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, In Memoriam László Moholy-Nagy, 1947, illustrated in the catalogue
Essen, Museum Folkwang, László Moholy-Nagy, 1962, illustrated in the catalogue
Munich, Galerie Klihm, Moholy-Nagy, 1966, illustrated in the catalogue
London, Marlborough Fine Art, Moholy-Nagy, 1968, no. 18, illustrated in the catalogue
Berlin, Bauhaus Archive, László Moholy-Nagy, Aussichnitte aus einem Lebenswerk, 1972, no. 36
Stuttgart, Wurttembergischer Kunstverein & Zurich, Kunstgewerbemuseum der Stadt Zurich, László Moholy-Nagy, 1974-75, no. 27

NOTE

Moholy-Nagy's vision of a non-representational art consisting of pure visual fundamentals of colour, texture, light and balance of forms was a constant throughout his career, from the early days of Ma (the leftist Hungarian group) and the Bauhaus through to his stay in England. Space CH2, painted shortly after he left London, during his first year in Chicago, while he was director of the short lived New Bauhaus -- American School of Design incorporates all these fundamentals. He firmly believed that the art of the present must parallel contemporary reality in order to communicate meaning to a public surrounded by ever new technological advancements. Therefore, he considered traditional, figurative painting and sculpture obsolete and turned to pure geometric abstraction filtered through the stylistic influence of Malevich, El Lissitsky and other Russian Constructivists. Space CH2 illustrates how Moholy-Nagy translated his efforts to manipulate light as a new medium onto the painted canvas. The coloured circles appear to be almost translucent as one plane overlaps the next and their hues shift accordingly. These intersecting transparent forms read as converging beams of light over the brown solid background.

Moholgy Nagy attempted to define an objective science of essential forms, colours, and materials, which would promote a more unified social environment. In his book Vision in Motion published nearly ten years after the completion of the present work, he sought to explain his underlying beliefs on the function of art: 'Art is the most complex, vitalising and civilising of human actions. Thus it is of biological necessity. Art sensitizes man to the best that is immanent [sic] in him through an intensified expression involving many layers of experience. Out of them art forms a unified manifestation, like dreams which are composed of the most diverse source material subconsciously crystallized. It tries to produce a balance of the social, intellectual and emotional existence; a synthesis of attitudes and opinions, fears and hopes' (L. Moholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, Chicago 1947, p. 28).

comp: 406D06008_COMP Fig.1, Photograph of Moholy-Nagy in 1946