László Moholy-Nagy, EM 1 (Telephone Picture), 1923. Porcelain enamel on steel, 95.2 x 60.3 cm. MoMA, Enid A. Haupt Fund, and acquired through the generosity of Debra and Leon Black, Ronnie Heyman, Daniel and Jane Och, Kenneth C. Griffin, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Michael S. Ovitz, Ronald O. Perelman, Jerry Speyer and Katherine, Farley, Alice and Tom Tisch, Gary and Karen Winnick, and Anne Dias Griffin, 1342.2016 © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

László Moholy-Nagy, EM 2 (Telephone Picture), 1923. Porcelain enamel on steel, 47.5 x 30.1 cm. MoMA, Gift of Philip Johnson in memory of Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, 91.1971 © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

László Moholy-Nagy, EM 3 (Telephone Picture), 1923. Porcelain enamel on steel, 24 x 15 cm. MoMA, Gift of Philip Johnson in memory of Sibyl Moholy-Nagy, 92.1971 © 2026 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

These works were produced by an enamel factory in Weimar, Germany, according to instructions given by the artist. Moholy-Nagy later wrote that he placed the order by telephone, thus providing the paintings with their unofficial title. While the three works share an identical abstract, geometric composition, EM 1, EM 2, and EM 3 were made at large, medium, and small scale, respectively. Each painting’s glossy enamel surface features a single strip of black that extends from top to bottom and two abstract shapes formed by lines of various thicknesses that intersect perpendicularly.

After encountering the work of the Russian avant-garde at an exhibition in Berlin in the early 1920s, Moholy-Nagy was persuaded by these artists’ belief that a revolutionary society demanded a radically new artistic language. He incorporated these ideas into his teaching at the Bauhaus, the influential German school of art, architecture, and design founded in Weimar in 1919 whose curriculum embraced modern technology as integral to art. By rejecting unique, handmade artwork in favor of serial mechanical production in his “telephone pictures,” Moholy-Nagy emphasized the role of the modern artist as a producer of concepts rather than a craftsman physically involved in the making of the work.

Publication excerpt from MoMA Highlights: 375 Works from The Museum of Modern Art, New York (New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 2019)