László Moholy–nagy – författare

Point and Line to Plane can be seen as a continuation of Wassily Kandinsky’s seminal treatise On the Spiritual in Art. Kandinsky’s thesis is that different constellations of point, line and surface have different emotional effects on the viewer. Starting from the point (which represents the most concentrated and minimal graphic form), he understands all painterly forms as being a play of forces and counterforces: of contrasts.

Moholy-Nagy’s efforts to have photography and filmmaking recognized as means of artistic design on the same level as painting are propounded and explained at length. The use of artistic instruments is thus radically reformed. The Hungarian artist makes the case for a functional transformation within the visual arts and for the further development of photographic design options.Alongside theoretical and technical approaches as well as detailed forays into the broad field of the medium of photography, Moholy-Nagy uses an extensive appendix of illustrations to provide a thorough survey of the numerous possibilities that photographic and cinematic work had in store as early as 1925.This English edition appears in original design and with separate commentary.

Dutch architect and designer J. J. P. Oud participated in the Bauhaus Week and the International Architecture Exhibition. His writing, beginning with a personal confession, is a summary of theoretical and practical findings in the field of architecture, specifically using the example of Dutch architecture. He thus looks to the future and reflects on the potential of architecture without forgetting to reveal his relationship with the past.

Kasimir Malevich’s treatise on Suprematism was included in the Bauhausbücher series in 1927, as was Piet Mondrian’s reflections on Russian Constructivism in 1925 (New Design, Bauhausbücher 5). Like Mondrian, who was never an official member of the Bauhaus, Malevich nevertheless had a close connection to the ideas of the school in terms of content. This volume 11 laid the foundation for the Russian avant-garde artist’s late work: to wrest the mask of life from the true face of art.

In his third and last contribution within the series, the founder and long-standing director of the school, Walter Gropius, gives a comprehensive overview of the Bauhaus in Dessau. In addition to a brief outline of the origins and development of the institution, Gropius presents the architectural design of the new Bauhaus building and the associated Masters’ Houses. Through documentary photographs and planning sketches, the technical development is traced with extreme precision.

Although he was never an official member of the Bauhaus, Albert Gleizes dedicated his influential essay on Cubism to the art school. In 1928, László Moholy-Nagy and Walter Gropius included this essay as volume 13 of the Bauhausbücher series. In addition to his own works, Gleizes shows works by Georges Braque, Robert Delaunay, Fernand Léger and Pablo Picasso as reference examples, and places the Bauhaus and its series in an international context that impressively captures the interaction of the numerous art movements of the time.

Published in 1929, From Material to Architecture contains the main features of László Moholy-Nagy’s teaching program at the Bauhaus. With its focus on the preliminary course and its training of finer sensory perception, this last title of the 14-volume series explains how students “develop towards practice from day to day.” The educational principle behind it, Jedermann ist begabt (everyone is talented), was central to teaching at the Bauhaus.

Moholy-Nagy creía que la educación artística era de fundamental importancia, razón por la cual, a pedido de Walter Gropius, trabajó como docente en la Bauhaus en Weimar (1923-1925), en Dessau (1925-1928) y en Chicago, donde se estableció a partir de 1937. Para Moholy-Nagy, enseñar no solo significaba educar de forma teórico-práctica, sino también abarcaba la formación moral del ser humano: la educación como medio para allanar el camino para el "hombre nuevo y total".En Pintura, fotografía y cine, postula una de las teorías más importantes e innovadoras sobre la fotografía y su potencial para cambiar la visión y la comunicación. En sus doce ensayos, no solo argumenta a favor de la fotografía como un medio de creación, en lugar de un proceso mecánico de grabación, sino también afirma que ella será la base de la percepción en el mundo moderno.Para el autor, el ojo humano no puede ser una fuente confiable de percepción, pues está incapacitado para la interacción directa con el ritmo y la simultaneidad del mundo moderno. La fotografía genera una nueva condición de percepción: más allá de la mera reproducción, es un modelo perceptual que induce sensaciones y estímulos particulares. Moholy-Nagy define la fotografía como un medio productivo que expande lo visible y conduce a una transformación de la percepción humana."A través de conexiones formales y espaciales –escribe– nuestro ojo completa el mensaje recibido y crea un fenómeno óptico con nuestra experiencia intelectual para crear un concepto-imagen [Vorstellungsbild], mientras que el aparato fotográfico reproduce la imagen puramente óptica y, por lo tanto, muestra grabaciones, distorsiones, recortes, que se conservan en la visión".Pese a su insistencia en la "imagen puramente óptica", la discusión sobre la fotografía no se limita a los efectos y formas ópticas. Su insistencia en la pureza tiene que ver con aislar la fotografía de nuestro instinto para asimilar lo que percibimos a través de la memoria.