Z IX

»Z IX« was created one year after László Moholy-Nagy’s appointment at the Bauhaus in Weimar and thus in a period characterized by intensive experiments in painting. The large-format picture is one of the most complex works of the Hungarian artist and bears witness to an intense exploration of the reproduction of light, which Moholy-Nagy also pursued in photographic works.

In reduced gray tones and with a thin application of paint, it depicts different geometrical forms divided into segments by diagonal lines. The gradations of color resemble superimposed beams of light, while the circle looks like a glass, muting the layers beneath it.

In spite of all the abstraction, Moholy-Nagy succeeds in creating a finely balanced depth of space possessing different qualities of light. His formal experiment is transformed into a study of transparency and visibility—his geometric-abstract composition establishing his status as an important modernist artist.