It was Hungarian born LászlóMoholy-Nagy who, in 1923, gavephotography a new importance inthe Bauhaus’ curriculum andpractice. He experimented withways of expression from daringmoving light sculptures to ex-perimental films – his radicalcamera generated works representonly a small part of his production.He felt... [more]

It was Hungarian born LászlóMoholy-Nagy who, in 1923, gavephotography a new importance inthe Bauhaus’ curriculum andpractice. He experimented withways of expression from daringmoving light sculptures to ex-perimental films – his radicalcamera generated works representonly a small part of his production.He felt that artists had to abandon the accepted limits of photo-graphy, especially the historical influence of painting, and regardthe camera and film as a flexible means of using light to makeimages. In the 1920s cars and trains afforded the experience ofspeed and travel through space and time, views from aeroplanesgave new perspectives and the perception of reality was changed bythe effects of artificial light. These changes created a new visual environment, which in turn altered peoples psychologicalrelationships with their surroundings – Moholy-Nagy maintained thata new visual language had to be developed. These changes, as wellas the anxieties which grew out of the exhilarating but threateningand unsettled nature of Germany in the 1920s, produced emotionaleffects that had not yet been represented in photographs.He took the radical view that photography was the quintessentialmodern medium with which to deal with the psychological effects ofthe new environment. He understood that the camera andphotosensitive film and paper provided a means of expressing atotally new response to his time.Through his teaching a wide spectrum of individualistic works andexperiments were produced by photographers such as ErichConsemüller, Andreas Feininger and T. Lux Feininger, Lucia Moholy,or Walter Peterhans. ‘a new vision’ Based on the Russian Avant-garde, photo-graphy at the Bauhaus was, in the eyes ofMoholy-Nagy, the ideal creative medium for a‘New Vision’. He sought in this ‘pure design oflight’ new possibilities for the perception andinterpretation of a New World, radically trans-formed by the impact of modern technology.Moholy-Nagy, with the abstract light-picturesof his photograms, his unconventionalperspectives, use of montage, collageand the multiple exposures, became a pioneer of experimentalphotography. At the same time, he was one of the first to recognisethe value of photography as an instrument for commercial art andadvertising. The Typofoto, a combination of image and text, played a central role in his own publications and then also in the work ofHerbert Bayer. new objectivity In contrast to Moholy-Nagy, who was self-taught, his wife, LuciaMoholy, had followed a thorough training course in photography.Her aim was less experimental than objective; she was lessinterested in the game with photographic techniques than in asubtle and unspectacular concern with reality as defined by ‘NewObjectivity’. Lucia Moholy's documentary shots of the materialproduced by the workshops, architecture, and interior spaces,originally meant for use in publications and by the press, as well asher fascinating portraits of masters and students of the Bauhaus,have been decisive in the image making of the school.It was only with the new curriculum under the direction of HannesMeyer in 1929 that a photography class was founded at the Bauhausin Dessau under the leadership of Walter Peterhans. Here, thestudents learned not only photographic theory and practice, but alsoa precise vision. Peterhans' own photographs were unattainableideal examples: delicately arranged close-up still lives composed ofinconspicuous found objects and fragments of textiles, glass, andmetal, of single threads, feathers, and blades of grass. Meticulouslighting catches forms and textures in their finest nuances andimbues them with a near magical effect. His titles open up a furthersurrealist poetic dimension.The Bauhaus at Dessau cultivated a lively photographic scene,which was soon to boom. While many of their photographicexperiments have been preserved they also valued the creativepower in the nonchalant amateurishness of snapshots. These imagesgive us details of everyday life and the optimistic, high-spiritedatmosphere of the school. At the Bauhaus, photography was never seen only as a means ofartistic expression, the main focus was on the visual stimulus. (ml) excerpt from http://www.aucklandartgallery.govt.nz/exhibitions/docs/0306bauhaus.pdf. [show less]