Flying Trapeze Press

Lloyd C. Engelbrecht, author of Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism

Lloyd C. Engelbrecht is Professor Emeritus of Art History at the University of Cincinnati,
where he taught in the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning.

In his Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism, Engelbrecht argues that László Moholy-Nagy
(1895-1946) was the most rounded creative figure of the 20th century, and in what is
the first attempt at a comprehensive, fully documented biography of him he discusses
Moholy’s work as: painter and print-maker; sculptor; photographer and maker of
photocollages; film-maker and writer about film experimentation; graphic designer and
writer about innovations in graphic design; stage, costume, interior, exhibition and
product designer; pioneer in conceiving music made without voices or instruments; as
well as lecturer, writer and editor with a strong interest in architecture and planning.
Among the topics Engelbrecht discusses are the five crucial years, 1923 to 1928, during
which Moholy taught at the German Bauhaus, opening up its opportunities for
collaboration with industry. He also discusses the schools in Chicago headed by Moholy
from 1937 to 1946: the New Bauhaus, as well as the School of Design in Chicago; the
latter evolved into the Institute of Design.

Dufay Color photography (Light filtering),1935,
DVD figure 495 in:Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism



Rays, Plexiglas, 1945, (photograph by F.V. Raymond)
DVD figure 526 in: Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism


cover for a brochure for the 14 Bauhaus Books, with blue accent, 1929
DVD figure 262 in: Moholy-Nagy:Mentor to Modernism


The copyright for the three works shown above is owned by Hattula Moholy-Nagy.

Two portions of Engelbrecht’s Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism have appeared
earlier, adapted as articles:

Lloyd C. Engelbrecht, “The Formation of a Renaissance Man: László Moholy-Nagy’s
Secondary Schooling in Hungary,” Hungarian Studies Review, volume XXXI, numbers
1-2 (Spring-Fall, 2004), [1]-[14].

Idem, “Educating the Eye: Photography and the Founding Generation at the Institute of
Design, 1937-46” in: David Travis and Elizabeth Siegel, editors, Taken by Design:
Photographs from the Institute of Design, 1937-1946 (Chicago: The Art Institute of
Chicago in association with The University of Chicago Press, 2002), [16]-33 and 229-231.

For more information on Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism, click on the Books page.

Also to be published by the Flying Trapeze Press, at a date to be announced, is another
book by Engelbrecht, Rudolph Weisenborn: Pioneer of Modernist Painting in Chicago.
This concerns Rudolph Weisenborn (1881-1974), an artist mentioned briefly in Moholy-
Nagy: Mentor to Modernism (see pages 543-546, 659, 661 and DVD figure 408).
Weisenborn showed alongside Moholy in two group exhibitions and also shared the
same art dealer. Weisenborn was Chicago’s pioneer Modernist artist, who exhibited
frequently at the Art Institute of Chicago from 1918 to 1949, and again in 1965, which
meant that he showed there on more separate occasions than did any other artist. He
also showed at other venues in Chicago from 1914 to 1965, and was very active in the
Windy City’s artistic community. His work was illustrated frequently in Chicago
newspapers, particularly his drawings of famous Chicagoans. Weisenborn’s out-of-town
showings were seen in New York, Albuquerque and other cities. Nevertheless he has
been virtually forgotten in his home city. A highlight of his career was Weisenborn’s
innovative 1940 portrait of his principal patron, Herman Spertus (1901-2006).

Rudolph Weisenborn, Portrait of Herman Spertus, oil on canvas, 1940, private collection
DVD figure 408 in: Moholy-Nagy: Mentor to Modernism

Lloyd C. Engelbrecht is also known for his work on the American architect and
ornamental designer, Henry C. Trost (1860-1933), as a joint endeavor with his late wife,
June F. Engelbrecht (1930-2009), photographer and art historian. In the early 1960s
they jointly began a study of Trost, a collaboration that continued into June’s last year,
as they put the finishing touches on a small article on Trost for which they were asked,
by the editors of the forthcoming Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, to discuss his
relevance for the twenty-first century. Over the years some of their publications on
Trost appeared with joint bylines and some with individual bylines, but there was always
some amount of joint work.

Actually, Henry Trost and László Moholy-Nagy have very little in common, except that it
is hard to discuss the work of each in traditional art-historical terms. Trost was unique in
his generation because he was a pioneer in the use of exposed reenforced concrete,
and clearly exhibited Early Modernist tendencies in designs influenced by Louis H.
Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as in art déco structures, while continuing to
create masterful designs for buildings conceived in period-revival styles, and in exotic
styles (such as Bhutanese). The only connections between these two masters is that
both Trost and Moholy knew Frank Lloyd Wright, although Moholy’s direct connection
with Wright was only after Trost had died. The other connection is the happenstance
that, with an interval of fifty years, each of them spent about nine years in Chicago, from
1887 to 1896 in the case of Trost and from 1937 to 1946 in the case of Moholy.
The most important publication on which June and Lloyd co-operated was: Henry C.
Trost: Architect of the Southwest (El Paso: El Paso Public Library Association, 1981). That
book was reviewed in: Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, volume XLI,
number 4 (December, 1982), 351-352, and in: Essays and Monographs in Colorado
History (Colorado Historical Society), 1984, 81-91. June and Lloyd also co-operated in
creating a complete catalogue of the work of Henry C. Trost and his family firm of Trost
& Trost; this dates from 1990 and is on file in the El Paso Public Library. June and
Lloyd’s work on this catalogue was supported by a major grant from the National
Endowment for the Humanities.

June F.Engelbrecht, Lloyd in the Mills Building During Restoration,December 26th,
1975, El Paso, Texas, photograph,Engelbrecht/Fouad/Rowlands family collection

The Mills Building, designed by Trost & Trost, with the firm’s Adolphus Gustavus Trost
serving as structural engineer, was built in 1910 and 1911 by the H.L. Stevens
Construction Company of Atlanta and Houston. It was the largest exposed reenforced
concrete building in the world at the time of its completion. At time June’s photograph
was made, a rare El Paso snowstorm had recently penetrated the temporarily unglazed
window openings.

Lloyd C. Engelbrecht is also known for his work on a major building by Adler & Sullivan
(Dankmar Adler, 1844-1900, and Louis H. Sullivan, 1856-1924); see his, “Adler &
Sullivan’s Pueblo Opera House: City Status for a New Town in the Rockies,” The Art
Bulletin, volume LXVII, number 2 (June, 1985), [277]-295. The principal structure was
left in ruins after a fire of 1922 and was later demolished, but its detached service
building still stands; see: Engelbrecht, “Adler & Sullivan’s Pueblo Opera House,” 283
and 285-286.

Anonymous photographer, postcard photograph of the Pueblo Opera House, about 1920 (the stone was Manitou red sandstone over awater table of gray granite)