Front / Recto

  • Title Berlin, Radio Tower (Berlin, Funkturm)
  • Negative Date 1928
  • Print Date 1928–36
  • Medium Gelatin silver print
  • Dimensions Image 15 × 10 15/16" (38.1 × 27.8 cm)
  • Place Taken Berlin
  • Credit Line Thomas Walther Collection. Gift of Thomas Walther
  • MoMA Accession Number 1793.2001
  • Copyright © 2015 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
  • Description

    In 1928 László Moholy-Nagy and his wife, Lucia Moholy, left Dessau and the Bauhaus for a new life in Berlin. Moholy-Nagy took this photograph of the Berlin radio tower with his medium-format Ernemann 6 by 9 centimeter (2 3/8 by 3 9/16 inch) camera. Stamps and inscriptions on the verso were abruptly trimmed from the full sheet of European-format 30 by 40 centimeter (11 13/16 by 15 ¾ inch) paper on which the print was made, probably long after the image was printed. While this was not the largest paper format Moholy-Nagy used, it was a favorite, and he printed many exhibition prints on a similar paper. The format was also favored by Moholy while the couple worked together in Berlin.

    —Lee Ann Daffner

Back / Verso

  • Mount Type No mount - evidence previous mounting
  • Marks and Inscriptions Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top right: 7 [with square outline]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top center: SUNDAY ART/PLEZ RETURN TO MISS GRAFLEY. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, top center: Please return. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso, center left: Berlin Still-Life, 1928 and View from the Radio Tower [crossed out]. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso, center: up [circled]. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso, center right: top. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso, center: ↑. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, center left: 35 [circled]. Inscribed in red pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: L. MOHOLY=NAGY and L. Moholy-Nagy/Radio tower [circled]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom left: 38 [with square outline]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, right edge: 47 [crossed out]. Inscribed in green pencil on sheet verso, bottom right: 50 [circled]. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, bottom right: School of Design/[illegible] CHICAGO, ILLINOIS/TELEPHONE DELAWARE 6779. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, bottom right: [illegible] GOT [illegible] [with circular outline]. Stamped in black ink on sheet verso, bottom right: BUREAU DE PARIS [cut off] G [illegible] ES [with circular outline]. Inscribed in black ink on sheet verso, bottom right: L. Moholy=Nagy/Funkturm (Berlin) [Funkturm (Berlin) crossed out]. Inscribed in pencil on sheet verso, bottom left: Radio M [illegible] [illegible word] and 6 [circled].
  • Provenance The artist, Chicago [1]; possibly to Arthur Siegel, Chicago, or by inheritance to the artist's second wife, Sybil Moholy-Nagy (1903–1971), Chicago; to Jonathan Williams (1929–2008), North Carolina [2]; to The Tartt Gallery, Washington, D.C. [3]; purchased by Thomas Walther, March 1995 [4]; given to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2001.
    [1] School of Design, Chicago, stamp on sheet verso.
    [2] Joe Tartt, e-mail to Simon Bieling, 2005. Jonathan Williams was a poet and photographer.
    [3] MacGill/Walther 2000, p. 25.
    [4] The Tartt Gallery invoice no. X7-95. The print was sold at AIPAD in 1995.

Surface

  • Surface Sheen Semireflective
  • Techniques Retouching (additive)
    Enlargement
    Ferrotyping
  • PTM
    Detail view of the recto of the artwork made using reflectance transformation imaging (RTI) software, which exaggerates subtle surface details and renders the features of the artwork plainly visible. Department of Conservation, MoMA
  • Micro-raking
    Raking-light close-up image, as shot. Area of detail is 6.7 x 6.7 mm. Department of Conservation, MoMA
    Raking-light close-up image, processed. Processing included removal of color, equalization of the histogram, and sharpening, all designed to enhance visual comparison. Department of Conservation, MoMA

Paper Material

  • Format Metric
  • UV Fluorescence Recto negative
    Verso negative
  • Fiber Analysis Softwood bleached sulfite 81%
    Hardwood bleached sulfite 19%
  • Material Techniques Developing-out paper
  • XRF

    This work was determined to be a gelatin silver print via X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry.

    The following elements have been positively identified in the work, through XRF readings taken from its recto and verso (or from the mount, where the verso was not accessible):

    • Recto: P, S, Cl, Ca, Zn, Sr, Ag, Ba, Pb
    • Verso: Ca, Zn, Sr, Ba, Pb

    The graphs below show XRF spectra for three areas on the print: two of the recto—from areas of maximum and minimum image density (Dmax and Dmin)—and one of the verso or mount. The background spectrum represents the contribution of the XRF instrument itself. The first graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the lower energy range (0 to 8 keV). The second graph shows elements identified through the presence of their characteristic peaks in the higher energy range (8 to 40 keV).

    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: P, S, Cl, Ca, Ag, Ba
    Areas examined: Recto (Dmax: black; Dmin: green), Verso or Mount (blue), Background (red)
    Elements identified: Zn, Sr, Ag, Pb

In Context

Historic Videos

László Moholy-Nagy. Berliner Stilleben (Berlin still life). 1926. 35mm film, black and white, silent, 9 min. © 2014 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Historical Publications

  • Der Querschnitt 11, no. 5 (May 1931): insert facing p. 301 (as Berlin, Funkturm).

Historical Exhibitions

  • Städtische Ausstellungshallen, Stuttgart. Internationale Ausstellung des Deutschen Werkbunds Film und Foto (Fifo). Organized by Deutscher Werkbund. May 18–July 7, 1929. (traveling exhibition)

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