Lucia Moholy – Exposures

Lucia Moholy (1894–1989) is one of the most internationally renowned and influential photographers of the 20th century. Her architectural photographs and portraits from her time at the Bauhaus in Dessau have become icons of photographic history and continue to shape perceptions of the institution to this day. However, Moholy was not only a photographer but also a writer; she referred to herself as a ‘documentarist’ and made a name for herself in the field of information science.

Exposures is the first comprehensive exhibition of Lucia Moholy’s work in Switzerland, showcasing her life’s work in all its diversity, spanning from the 1910s to the 1970s. It combines her photographic work with numerous, partly newly discovered documents from various archives. In addition to highlighting Moholy’s role in the avant-garde of the interwar period, the exhibition explores her youth in Prague, her editorial work in Germany, her portrait photography in London, and her engagement with early microfilm technology in England and Turkey. Finally, it invites visitors to encounter Lucia Moholy in the context of Zurich, where she spent the last thirty years of her life. During this time, she also maintained a connection to the then-young Fotostiftung Schweiz which now houses a significant portion of her photographic legacy. Exposures is a long-overdue tribute to the life and work of this remarkable witness to the 20th century.

The exhibition is a collaboration with Kunsthalle Praha, where it is on display until the end of 2024.