Abstraction II
Medium
linocut
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund
Accession Number
1971.75.1
Art Historical Context
László Moholy-N's *Abstraction II (1922) is striking linocut print that captures the artist's pioneering spirit in early 20th-century. Created during Moholy-Nagy's time Berlin amid the vibrant avant-garde scene, this work exemplifies his embrace of geometric abstraction and Constructivist principles. As a Hungarian-born visionary who would soon join the Bauhaus faculty, Moholy-Nagy sought to fuse art, technology, and everyday life, producing bold compositions of interlocking shapes and dynamic lines. Linocut, a relief printing technique using linoleum—a modern, affordable material—allowed Moh...
About the Artist
László Moholy-Nagy
László Moholy-Nagy (1895–1946), born László Weisz in Bácsborsód, Hungary, to a Jewish family, transformed from law student to pioneering modernist after World War I. Orphaned early by his father's departure, he was raised by his mother and guardian uncle Gusztáv Nagy, whose surname inspired his own. After studying law at the University of Budapest, Moholy-Nagy served as an Austro-Hungarian artille...