The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Construction

Construction

1923
(American, 1895–1946)
Sheet: 59.4 x 43.8 cm (23 3/8 x 17 1/4 in.); Image: 59.4 x 27.7 cm (23 3/8 x 10 7/8 in.)
© Estate of László Moholy-Nagy / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Catalogue raisonné: Passuth 124
Location: not on view

Description

In 1920 the Hungarian artist László Moholy-Nagy moved to Berlin where he met members of the Russian and German avant-garde who had given up the traditional sculptural techniques of modeling, carving, and bronze casting to experiment with three-dimensional abstract constructions. Moholy-Nagy reduced the components of his compositions to essential geometric shapes and also used transparent elements. Moholy-Nagy's "glass architecture," with its strict order of intersecting elements and purity of forms, achieves harmony and equilibrium. Exploiting the rich blacks and fine gradations of tone possible with lithography, he produced the same effect in two-dimensions.
  • CMA 1990: "Year in Review 1989," Bulletin 77 (February 1990). p. 76, no. 170, repr. p. 63.
  • Changing Dimensions: Works on Paper by Sculptors. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 22, 1995-January 24, 1996).
    The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
    Cross Section: Graphic Art in Germany after the First World War. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 10, 1989-January 7, 1990).
  • {{cite web|title=Construction|url=false|author=László Moholy-Nagy|year=1923|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.16