Moholy-Nagy left the Bauhaus in 1928 and established his own design studio in Berlin.
Marianne Brandt took over his role as Head of the Metal Workshop. It was made with the help of the Hungarian architect Istvan Seboek for the
Deutscher Werkbund exhibition held in Paris during the summer of 1930; it was later dubbed the
Light-Space Modulator and was seen as a pioneer achievement of kinetic sculpture using industrial materials like reflective metals and
Plexiglas. Given his interest in the light patterns it produced more than its appearance when viewed directly, it might more accurately be seen as one of the earliest examples of
Light art. This was a form that he continued to develop in the 1940s in the United States, in
Space Modulator (1939–1945)
, Papmac (1943), and
B-10 Space Modulator (1942). Moholy-Nagy was photography editor of the Dutch
avant-garde magazine
International Revue i 10 from 1927 to 1929. He designed stage sets for successful and controversial operatic and theatrical productions, designed exhibitions and books, created ad campaigns, wrote articles, and made films. His studio employed artists and designers such as Istvan Seboek,
György Kepes, and Andor Weininger. In the summer of 1931 Moholy-Nagy travelled to Finland with his then girlfriend actress
Ellen Frank (sister-in-law of
Walter Gropius), as a guest of Finnish architect
Alvar Aalto. During the trip, Moholy-Nagy visited the
Holy Cross Church in Hattula, and in 1933 he would name his first daughter Hattula. Also in 1931 he met actress and scriptwriter
Sibylle Pietzsch. Sibyl collaborated with her husband to make
Ein Lichtspiel: schwarz weiss grau ("A Lightplay: Black White Gray"), a now-classic film based on the
Light-Space Modulator. She would also work with him on the films
Gypsies and
Berlin Still Life, and would remain with him for the rest of his life, later becoming an art and architectural historian. After the
Nazis came to power in Germany in 1933, as a foreign citizen, he was no longer allowed to work there. He worked in 1934 in the Netherlands (doing mostly commercial work) before moving with his family to London in 1935. In England, Moholy-Nagy formed part of the circle of émigré artists and intellectuals who based themselves in
Hampstead. Moholy-Nagy lived in the
Isokon building with
Walter Gropius for eight months and then settled in
Golders Green. Gropius and Moholy-Nagy planned to establish an English version of the Bauhaus but could not secure backing, and then Moholy-Nagy was turned down for a teaching job at the
Royal College of Art. Moholy-Nagy earned a living in London by taking on various commercial design jobs, including work for
Imperial Airways and a shop display for men's underwear.
György Kepes worked with him on various commercial assignments. He photographed contemporary architecture for the
Architectural Review where the assistant editor was
John Betjeman who commissioned Moholy-Nagy to make documentary photographs to illustrate his book
An Oxford University Chest. He was commissioned to make the films
Lobsters (1935) and
New Architecture and the London Zoo (1936). He began to experiment with painting on transparent plastics, such as
Perspex. In 1936, he was commissioned by fellow Hungarian film producer
Alexander Korda to design special effects for the now-classic film
Things to Come, based on the novel by
H. G. Wells. Working at
Denham Studios, Moholy-Nagy created kinetic sculptures and abstract light effects, but they were mostly unused by the film's director. At the invitation of
Leslie Martin, he gave a lecture to the architecture school of Hull School of Art. In 1937 his artworks were included in the infamous "
Degenerate art" exhibition held by Nazi Germany in Munich. ==Chicago years (1937–1946)==