Born in Bacsbarsod, Hungary, 1895. Died in Chicago, 1946.

László Moholy-Nagy was a painter, photographer, sculptor, typographer and designer, as well as a teacher at the Bauhaus in Germany and director of the short-lived New Bauhaus in Chicago. He was also one of the most influential artists of the early 20th century, especially among those who moved between different media and disciplines to create their work.

Born László Weiss in 1895 in Hungary, he studied law in Budapest and took part in the First World War.

In 1917 he was wounded. During his convalescence he founded the artists’ group ‘Ma’. At the end of the war, after becoming a lawyer, he moved to Vienna and from there to Berlin. There he was exposed to Constructivism and other avant-garde movements and became involved in the creation of experimental photography and Dada works.

In 1923 he joined the German Bauhaus, replacing Johannes Itten as the instructor of the introductory design course. In 1928 he withdrew from the Bauhaus to devote himself to design and photography independently. Political circumstances forced him to leave Germany in 1935. He worked in London before moving to Chicago in response to an invitation to head the New Bauhaus in 1937.

Unfortunately, financial problems meant that the New Bauhaus had to close a year later. However, Moholy-Nagy managed to open the School of Design, which in 1939 was renamed the Institute of Design. In 1946 he died of leukaemia in Chicago.