Moholy-Nagy played a key role at the Bauhaus in Weimar and Dessau as a painter, graphic artists, teacher, and impassioned advocate of avant-garde photography. In 1923, he began making collages of images he clipped from magazines and newspapers, which he then re-photographed and furnished with enigmatic and allusive titles, creating visual riddles to be deciphered by the viewer. In this composition of two circles connected by perspectival lines, a young woman athlete appears to be jumping or falling through empty space from one world into another in a tremendous leap of faith.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Behind the Back of the Gods
Artist:László Moholy-Nagy (American (born Hungary), Borsod 1895–1946 Chicago, Illinois)
Date:1928
Medium:Gelatin silver print
Dimensions:36.0 x 27.4 cm (14 3/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Accession Number:1987.1100.23
Inscription: Signed and inscribed on print, verso C: "L. Moholy-Nagy // "Behind the back [scratched out] // of the gods" 1926 [crossed out] // (Photo montage)"; stamped on print, verso LC: "COP [illegible]"; stamped on print, verso LC: "FLUSH SIDES"; stamped on print, verso LC: "SQUARE [illegible]"; inscribed on print, verso LC: "[illegible] inter gottermiden"; inscribed on print, verso LC: "7494 [underlined] // 27-14 [underlined] // 150"; stamped on print, verso LR: "foto moholy-nagy // foto moholy-nagy [upside down, crossed out]";
[Pace/MacGill to Waddell, February 2, 1985]; John C. Waddell
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
Smith College Museum of Art. "Bauhaus Modern," September 26, 2008–December 17, 2008.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 53," January 26–April 25, 2010.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. "Moholy-Nagy: Future Present," May 27, 2016–September 7, 2016.
Art Institute of Chicago. "Moholy-Nagy: Future Present," October 2, 2016–January 3, 2017.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "Moholy-Nagy: Future Present," February 12, 2017–June 18, 2017.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 94.
László Moholy-Nagy (American (born Hungary), Borsod 1895–1946 Chicago, Illinois)
1920s
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