László Moholy-Nagy lecturing at Mills College, California 1940
Photographs, 1937 - 1943
Double Loop, 1946
Nuclear I, CH, 1945
Photogram, 1939 - 1940
Space Modulator, 1939 - 1945
1927
Twisted Planes, 1946
Vertical Black, Red, Blue, 1945
Moholy-Nagy reviewing his notes at the opening of the New Bauhaus. Herbert Matter photograph. Chicago 1937
Self-Portrait with Hand, 1920
During work, circa 1937
To keep pace with European products, the Chicago Arts and Crafts Association planned to establish a new design school modeled on the Bauhaus. Gropius was asked to be the director of the new institute who already accepted a teaching position at Harvard University. So he recommended his friend and former colleague, László Moholy-Nagy, instead.
Letter from Norma Stahla, President of the Association of Arts and Industries, to László Moholy-Nagy:
“Plan design school on Bauhaus lines to open in fall. Marshall Field offers family Mansion Prairie Avenue. Stables to be converted into workshops. Doctor Gropious suggests your name as director. Are you interested?”
The New Bauhaus: American School of Design opened in 1937
- Director: László Moholy-Nagy
- Address: Marshall Field mansion, 1919 S Prairie Avenue, Chicago, USA
- Tuition for one semester: $150
Moholy-Nagy's unique teaching methods and methodology of the Bauhaus were little understood. The closing exhibition of the school’s first year was described by Time magazine as an “exhibition of bewildering nameless objects”. As a result, supporters backed away and the school closed after the first year due to financial problems.
Walter Paepcke the Chicago based maker of cardboard containers was not only an excellent businessman but also a patron of art and design. Decades before the “design thinking” era, he saw the opportunity to connect art and industry.
Thanks to the support of Walter Paepcke, in early 1939 the school reopened on the site of a former bakery and as the Institue of Design operated until 1945.
Address: 247 East Ontario Street, Chicago, United States
Address: 247 East Ontario Street, Chicago, United States
An article of the Chicago Tribune in 1943 describes Moholy-Nagy as a man of average stature who dressed like a successful banker and spoke with an accent that was difficult to understand. A “modernist so far ahead of his time he’s almost out of sight.”
Famous designs by famous students of the Institute of Design:
Art Paul: Playboy magazine logo
Robert Brownjohn: From Russia with Love and the headline of the Goldfinger James Bond movies
Morton és Millie Goldsholl: Motorola logo
László Moholy-Nagy:
Pen rest and letter holder (Prototype desk set), 1946
Parker 51 pen designed by Kenneth Parker and Marlin Baker, 1938
https://www.phillips.com/detail/laszlo-moholynagy/UK050118/28
