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Collection

Exterior Spaces, Interior Places

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Artist(s): László Moholy-Nagy (Bacsbarsod, Hungary, Jul 20, 1895 - Nov 24, 1946, Chicago, IL)
Title: Twisted Planes
Date: 1946
Dimensions: 16 x 34 3/8 x 20 1/8 in. (41 x 87 x 51 cm)
Medium: Acrylic and steel
Credit Line: Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, MA, Museum purchase, 1949.12
Image Credit: courtesy of Hattula Moholy-Nagy

This object is a member of the following groups (click any group name to view all objects in that group):

Exhibitions: 4 x 4
Periods and Styles: Mid-Century Abstraction

Object Information

An educator, writer, and artist who worked across many media, László Moholy-Nagy explored space, light, and motion, often incorporating industrial materials into his works to connect art and technology. Explaining his philosophy, he wrote: “Artists [should not] be afraid of technology because not the machine but the man behind it is the important factor.” Here, his combination of Plexiglas and metal combines transparency and reflection, both properties associated with light, which Moholy-Nagy deemed a vital means of expression. When suspended from a wire, the preferred method of display for this object, the sculpture casts shadows as it rotates, demonstrating the artist’s dynamic ideal of “vision in art.”

Exhibition History

This object was included in the following exhibitions:

The Material and the Immaterial, Addison Gallery of American Art, 1/7/1949 - 3/13/1949
Works of Art by Moholy-Nagy, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, 2/6/1950 - 2/27/1950
Plastics Exhibition, YWCA (Young Woman's Christian Association), 10/23/1950 - 11/11/1950
Three Dimensional for Modern Living, DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park, 10/7/1951 - 11/11/1951
Bauhaus Personalities, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 1/4/1952 - 2/9/1952
Loan to the Boston Flower Show, Boston Flower Show, 3/15/1953 - 00/00/00
Three Dimensional Works of Art from the Addison Gallery Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 3/20/1953 - 5/11/1953
Exhibition of Paintings by Patrick Morgan, Lamont Art Gallery, 10/27/1953 - 11/15/1953
Bauhaus in Germany and America: a museum course exhibitio, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 4/25/1956 - 6/11/1956
Scope in Collecting [25th Anniversary Exhibition], Addison Gallery of American Art, 10/19/1956 - 12/24/1956
Translucent Objects Selected from the Addison Gallery Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/13/1959 - 5/18/1959
Living with Design, Addison Gallery of American Art, 10/22/1959 - 10/23/1959
Survey of the Permanent Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 10/14/1961 - 11/27/1961
Exhibition of Works of Art by Bauhaus Faculty, Busch-Reisinger Museum, 11/1/1966 - 12/10/1966
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, 5/27/1968 - 6/23/1968
Masterworks from the Collection: 50th Anniversary Exhibition, Addison Gallery of American Art, 5/9/1981 - 6/14/1981
Bauhaus, The MIT Museum, 10/9/1986 - 2/28/1987
Faculty Choice Show: Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Photographs and Sculpture from, Addison Gallery of American Art, 7/5/1988 - 7/31/1988
Moholy-Nagy: A New Vision for Chicago, Illinois State Museum, 10/20/1990 - 3/8/1991
American Abstraction at the Addison, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/18/1991 - 7/31/1991
American Abstraction from the Addison Gallery of American Art, American Federation of Arts, 2/27/1993 - 12/4/1994
Addison Gallery of American Art: 65 Years, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/13/1996 - 7/31/1996
Form and Structure: Twentieth Century Work from the Addison Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 12/28/1998 - 4/25/1999
Sculpture in Context, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/17/1999 - 7/31/1999
Conversations: A Collection in Dialogue, Addison Gallery of American Art, 1/7/2003 - 7/31/2003
Coming of Age: American Art, 1850s to 1950s, American Federation of Arts, 9/9/2006 - 9/7/2009
Inside, Outside, Upstairs, Downstairs: The Addison Anew, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/7/2010 - 3/27/2011
Lines of Action: Selections from the Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 4/28/2012 - 7/31/2012
Exterior Spaces, Interior Places, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/2/2014 - 1/4/2015
In Tandem: Inspirations and Collaborations, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/12/2015 - 1/3/2016
Moholy-Nagy: Future Present, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 5/27/2016 - 6/18/2017
Eye on the Collection, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/1/2017 - 7/31/2018
4 x 4, Addison Gallery of American Art, 9/1/2018 - 7/31/2019

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