Eiffel Tower, Paris

1925

László Moholy-Nagy

(American, 1895–1946)

Culture

America

Medium

gelatin silver print

Measurements

Image: 28.1 x 21.1 cm (11 1/16 x 8 5/16 in.); Paper: 29.2 x 21 cm (11 1/2 x 8 1/4 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)

Credit Line

Dudley P. Allen Fund 1997.144

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Did You Know?

According to László Moholy-Nagy, photography offered an entirely new way of seeing, an “unprejudiced optical view.”

Description

Moholy’s Eiffel Tower is disorienting, framed to eliminate any horizon line or context. Smaller, lighter cameras that appeared in the 1920s encouraged odd vantage points such as bird’s- and worm’s-eye views. Moholy and others employed them to shock viewers into understanding the new relationship between man and space exemplified by the airplane and skyscraping structures like the Eiffel Tower.