Introduction

Intrigue still surrounds Moholy-Nagy and the issue is also an opportunity to address some of the more evasive and hidden aspects of his character. Though he is widely known and recognized as one of the most important Bauhaus-inspired thinkers—see, for example, Alysa Nahmias’ recent documentary The New Bauhaus —many details of his life and work still need to be discovered and made available to the wider public. It is also very telling in this respect that the definitive intellectual biography of László Moholy-Nagy is still to be written. Much of this might be due in part to his early death, which left several of his projects unfinished, and also to the difficult times he lived through, when—as some of the papers published in this issue will show—the shortage of materials, lack of socio-political stability, and unpredictability of funding undermined many of his plans.