Photogram 1943

László Moholy-Nagy made this photogram by placing objects directly onto photographic paper and exposing it to light. Just imagine him in the darkroom, feeling around for forms, placing them down. There’s a spiral, a tube, and then other things, harder to make out, like an experiment in chance. It looks like the artist is coaxing light to create a feeling of depth. Moholy-Nagy was part of the Bauhaus, where artists were thinking about art as technology. How to make art for a new world, using new methods. This photogram is like a painting, it's about composition, space and form, but it completely bypasses the hand, right? It reminds us that artists don't work in a vacuum, they are always responding to the technology and world around them. They are constantly showing each other new ways of seeing.