Nude
Rotation 5. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, January 5 – July 9, 2009, no cat.
Rotation 11. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art,
Kansas City, MO, September 17, 2011- March 18, 2012, no cat.
Rotation 22. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, August 10, 2016- January 8, 2017, no cat.
For this photograph, László Moholy-Nagy reversed the expected tonalities of the image. The shadow of the leaves appear here as light against the woman’s dark back. In this way, the image shows the play of light and dark that is fundamental to making photographs.
Moholy-Nagy taught at the famed Bauhaus school (a progressive art school in Germany) from 1923 to 1928. Throughout his career, he challenged photographic traditions. His visual experiments included camera-less images, negative images (such as this print), aerial perspectives and multiple exposures.
Purchased from Edwynn Houk Gallery by Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, MO, 1990;
Given by Hallmark Cards, Inc. to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2005.
