Paul Hartland Carnival. Composition with two masks . 1934

This is László Moholy-Nagy's Paul Hartland Carnival. Composition with two masks. , and he made it without a specific date using photography. The composition is a cascade of faces, overlapping and obscured by ribbons and other party ephemera. I can imagine Moholy-Nagy, in his darkroom, coaxing these images into being through layer after layer. What was he thinking when he made this? He was interested in Bauhaus ideas about art and technology, so perhaps he was thinking about how photography could reveal new ways of seeing. The colors in the piece are muted and dreamlike, but the red of the lips and spots of rouge on the cheeks are what grab you. There's a melancholy air about these masks, as if the party's over and the guests have gone home. The surfaces have imperfections, abrasions, and ghostly traces which add depth and texture to the artwork. Moholy-Nagy reminds us that all artists are in conversation, picking up on ideas, reacting, and pushing back, so we must, in turn, contribute to that conversation.