Getty Museum

Das Weltgebäude

Date

1925

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

Object ID

776dcf50-b016-4593-ab50-3d00637a4851

> No longer tied to a traditional construction of pictorial space as in *The Farewell* of 1924 ([84.XM.997.9](http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/46593/laszlo-moholy-nagy-der-abschied-american-1924/)), this work takes greater liberties with space and form and exemplifies László Moholy-Nagy’s own style of montage. The artist wished to bring order to the layering of elements in his montages and maximize their legibility for the viewer, unlike the chaotic and image-packed work of the Dadaists. Despite this ordering, the meaning of the piece is meant to be associative rather than assigned. The deep significance suggested by such a ponderous title is not readily discernible. According to Lucia Moholy, a title was generally added after a composition was completed rather than being part of its genesis. In this whimsical piece the universe is shown to be comprised of a scaffolding of Constructivist beams and women’s legs, which provides shelter for a monkey treed by aggressive pelicans. > > Katherine Ware, *László Moholy-Nagy*, In Focus: Photographs from the J. Paul Getty Museum (Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum, 1995), 32. © 1995 The J. Paul Getty Museum.

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