Following the closing of the Bauhaus in April 1933, Coppola and Grete Stern traveled together to Vienna, Budapest, and Prague. For this work, Coppola uncovered abstract forms in the urban landscape, using the world before his camera to rethink the formal and texture studies he had pursued at the Bauhaus. Coppola would continue adapting his Bauhaus lessons to his urban explorations, applying his new tools to the world around him, which was very much in flux.