The New Vision movement of the 1920s and 1930s offered a revolutionary approach to seeing the world, representing a rebellion against traditional photographic methods and an embrace of avant-garde experimentation and innovative techniques. László Moholy-Nagy, an artist and influential teacher at the Bauhaus in Germany, coined the term “New Vision” to describe this period of expansion. Today, it encompasses photographic developments that unfolded between the two World Wars in Europe, America, and beyond. New Vision photographers highlighted inventive techniques such as photograms, photomontages, and light studies, creating photographs that favored extreme angles and unusual viewpoints. These approaches, which extended to more defined movements like Surrealism, reflected a desire to explore different perspectives in the wake of World War I.
Currently, this exhibition is on display at The High Museum in Atlanta, uniting more than one hundred works from the museum’s photography collection. It traces the movement’s impact from its origins in the 1920s to the present, demonstrating its long-standing influence on subsequent generations.
For more insights, viewers can watch a video featuring Maria L. Kelly, the Assistant Curator of Photography, discussing Goudal’s Phoenix V here.
