id: 165693 accession number: 2007.96 share license status: Copyrighted url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2007.96 updated: 2024-03-26 02:01:06.236000 Mother Europe Cares for Her Colonies, 1925. László Moholy-Nagy (American, 1895–1946). Gelatin silver print of a collage; image: 16.1 x 12.3 cm (6 5/16 x 4 13/16 in.); paper: 18.7 x 13.4 cm (7 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 2007.96 © Estate of László Moholy-Nagy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York title: Mother Europe Cares for Her Colonies title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1925 creation date earliest: 1925 creation date latest: 1925 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: © Estate of László Moholy-Nagy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York --- culture: America, 20th century technique: gelatin silver print of a collage department: Photography collection: PH - American 1900-1950 type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * László Moholy-Nagy (American, 1895–1946) - artist László Moholy-Nagy American, b. Austria-Hungary, 1895-1946 László Moholy-Nagy was an avant-garde painter, photographer, filmmaker, writer, and stage and graphic designer known for his experimental approach. He was also an influential teacher and advocate of the "new photography," the international movement that achieved prominence in Europe after World War I. Moholy-Nagy (born in Bácsborsod) studied law at the University of Budapest (1914) and served in the Austro-Hungarian army during the war (1915-17). Wounded, he became interested in art during his convalescence and, although briefly resuming his law studies, decided to pursue a career in the arts. In late 1919 he moved to Vienna, then settled in Berlin, where he became associated with the dadaists and other avant-garde artists. He took part in his first exhibition in 1922 at the Berlin gallery Der Sturm, showing abstract paintings and metal sculpture. That same year he and his wife, Lucia Moholy, began investigating photograms (cameraless photographs) and over the next several years would continue to experiment, producing negative prints, photomontages, photocollages, and photographs taken from a variety of viewpoints and angles. In 1923 Walter Gropius invited Moholy-Nagy to head the metal workshop at the Bauhaus in Weimar. Moholy-Nagy also taught the school's introductory course and collaborated with his wife and Gropius to edit several volumes in the Bauhausbücher (Bauhaus Books) series. In 1925 he published his influential book Malerei, Photographie, Film (Painting, Photography, Film) and the following year completed his first film, Berliner Stilleben (Berlin Still Life). Moholy-Nagy left the Bauhaus in 1928 following the resignation of Gropius and moved to Berlin to work as a commercial artist, specializing in stage and graphic design, as well as in film. The following year he published Von Material zu Architektur (published in translation as The New Vision: From Material to Architecture, 1930) and helped organize Film und Foto, the well-known exhibition of avant-garde photography and film held in Stuttgart. He also exhibited more than 90 photographs in the show. Following his 1932 divorce and the Nazi rise to power in Germany, Moholy-Nagy immigrated to Amsterdam (1934) and then England (1935). He was invited to Chicago in 1937 to found the New Bauhaus (reorganized as the Chicago School of Design in 1939 and then renamed the Institute of Design in 1944). Moholy-Nagy directed the school until 1946, when he died of leukemia. M.M. --- measurements: Image: 16.1 x 12.3 cm (6 5/16 x 4 13/16 in.); Paper: 18.7 x 13.4 cm (7 3/8 x 5 1/4 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in pencil on verso: "Moholy-Nagy/ (illegible word) mutter/europa/ (illegible word)/ (illegible word)/kolonien/foto/1925" translation: remark: inscription: Red rectangle and crop marks on verso of print, numbered in blue crayon: "129" translation: remark: inscription: Artist's studio stamp on verso of print: "moholy/nagy/berlin.../freidenrichstr. 27 atelier" translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy opening date: 2004-09-14T04:00:00 Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy. Palmer Museum of Art (September 14-December 5, 2004); McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, MA (January 16-March 27, 2005); Crocker Art Museum, Sacaramento, CA (July 9-September 11, 2005); Portland Museum of Art (January 1-March 19, 2006). title: Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography opening date: 2014-10-19T00:00:00 Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 19, 2014-January 11, 2015). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE Family of Otto Eisner, Brno, Czech Republic date: footnotes: citations: (Sotheby's, London, May 4, 2000, no. 161, sold to David Raymond) date: May 4, 2000 footnotes: citations: David Raymond [b.1979], New York, NY date: 2000-2007 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2007- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E. Hinson, Ian Walker, and Lisa Kurzner. Forbidden Games: Surrealist and Modernist Photography : the David Raymond Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art. 2014. page number: Mentioned: p. 74; reproduced: p. 75; reproduced and mentioned: p. 228. url: Schaffner, Ingrid, Julien Levy, and Colin Westerbeck. Accommodations of Desire: Surrealist Works on Paper Collected by Julien Levy. Pasadena, Calif: Curatorial Assistance, Inc, 2004. page number: Reproduced: p. 80; mentioned: p. 123. url: Moholy-Nagy, László, Klemens Gruber, Oliver A. I. Botar, and Frantiések Kalivoda. Telehor: mezinárodní casopis pro visuální kulturu = Internationale Zeitschrift für visuelle Kultur = the international review new vision = revue internationale pour la culture visuelle. 2011. page number: Reproduced and mentioned: p. 101. url: --- IMAGES