László Weisz born in Borsód in 1895. In 1905 he enrolls in the state gymnasium in Szeged and graduates in 1913. The family name was changed to Nagy in 1910.

László relocates to Budapest to go to law school. He stays at the University of Budapest for at least two semesters and is listed as “Nagy László". László voluntarily enlists in the artillery, the Imperial and Royal 32nd Field Reserve Regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army, probably with the rank of reserve cadet. During his wartime service, he makes colored sketches, many on postcards, some of which he sends to his family and friends. He also documents his war experiences in watercolor and crayon.

He is wounded in the left thumb in Galicia during the Kerensky or Second Brusilov Offensive. László is declared unfit for battle and given a commission as a lieutenant in the reserves in the Austro-Hungarian Army. After his recovery, he trains other artillery men behind the lines. László extensively travels of throughout Austria-Hungary: Szekesfehérvár, Trieste, Innsbrück, Odessa. László publishes poems and short stories in Jelenkor, edited by Iván Hevesy. Attends evening classes in life drawing at Róbert Berény's art school in Budapest. Studies the Old Masters, identifies with German Expressionism and the Russian avant-garde. Exhibits for the first time with other artists, showing watercolours at the National Salon, Budapest. Comes into contact with Hungarian avant-garde artists.

In March László is included in an exhibition at the Mücsarnok (Hall of Art) in Budapest. Moves to Szeged in August where he works as an artist in a studio community with the Activist sculptor, Sándor Gergely, with whom he exhibits in November. At the end of the year, he moves to Vienna where he stays for six weeks. Here he socializes with the Ma artists group centered around Lajos Kassák. He is influenced by the Cubist-Expressionist work of his friends, Lajos Tihanyi and Sándor Bortnyik as well as Erzsi Landau, a photographer who very likely made Moholy aware of the possibilities of photographic medium. Moholy's series of linear drawing constitutes his first work as a mature artist.

Meets Lucia Schulz in Berlin. Develops material collages for first Constructivist works, including Glasarchitektur-Bilder (Glass Architecture Pictures). In October his work is included in an exhibition at Galerie Fritz Gurlitt in Berlin. In the 1920s publishes extensively on photography, typography, new arrangements in music and light composition. Moholy is involved with Erwin Piscator and his Proletarian Theatre. Creates setting for a theatrical production of Upton Sinclair's "Prince Hagen" which opens on December 5 in the Great Hall of Hasenheide.

Horizont, a collection of Moholy's Dadaist art, is published by Ma. In April, he is made the Berlin representative for Ma, a post he holds until 1925. Transitioning painting from Dada to Constructivism. Moholy begins writing the film scenario for "Dynamic of the Metropolis", published in Ma in Hungarian in 1924, and later in German in Volume 8 in the Bauhaus Books Series, "Malerei Photografie Film" (Painting, Photography, Film). He and Lucia marry in Berlin-Charlottenburg. Creates "Nickel Construction", the work which is exhibited in 1922 in Herwath Walden's Der Sturm, Berlin and provides grist for critical discourse among leading avant-garde figures.

In February Moholy exhibits with László Péri at the Der Sturm gallery in Berlin. His work includes paintings and metal sculptures and 'Reliefs' made of found objects of glass, wood and metal. Creates the so-called Telephone pictures, five works of enamel on steel reproduced by machine. He meets Walter Gropius, who visits his Sturm exhibition. Reproduction of his works in the 1 May celebratory issue of Ma. In May attends the First International Congress for Progressive Artists in Düsseldorf as representative of the Ma group. Attends the Dadaists' and Constructivists' conference in Weimar. Strongly influenced by Kurt Schwitters who is co-organiser of the Constructivist artists' meetings in Hanover. Spends the summer in the Rhön with his wife, Lucia, where he is inspired to begin making photograms, which he produces with her help and knowledge of photography. These first photograms are made in daylight on copying-out paper.

February holds his second Sturm exhibition with László Péri. Exhibits at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hanover. Publishes the Kestner-portfolio Nr. 6 (six lithographs).He is invited by Gropius to the Staatliche Bauhaus in Weimar in March and takes over the foundation course from Johannes Itten and the metal workshop from Paul Klee, bringing a new Constructivist direction to the Bauhaus.•Publishes linoleum and woodcuts in Der Sturm. His "New Forms in Music, Potentialities of the Phonograph" is published in Der Sturm . Writes "Theatre Circus Variety" of the Bauhaus, providing the impetus for his later success in theatre. In August and September he participates in the Bauhaus Exhibition in Weimar.

In February his third Sturm exhibition with Hugo Scheiber, including five Telephone Pictures takes place. He participates in the Sturm section of the First German Art Exhibition in Moscow. Collaboration with Oskar Schlemmer and Farkas Molnár in theatre, dance and ballet stage design; also works in architectural and mural design. Plans a series of Bauhaus newsletters, a project not realised. Starts work with Gropius on the Bauhaus Books series, with 50 volumes originally planned. In addition to the traditional technique of painting on canvas, he starts to use synthetic materials such as aluminium, celluloid, and opaque plastics. Moholy experiments with photo collages, which he calls Photoplastics.

In March Moholy has his final exhibition at Der Sturm. He moves with the Bauhaus to Dessau. The first Bauhaus Books are published. By 1930 fourteen volumes have appeared. Moholy designs all but three volumes. Publication of the book, "Die Bühne im Bauhaus" (The theatre of the Bauhaus) with F. Molnár and O. Schlemmer as Volume 4 of the Bauhaus Books series. This work includes the conceived idea of a Theatre of Totality and the essay "Theater, Zirkus, Varieté"; also the vision of a theatre of form, movement, tone, light, colour and odors in the form of a Partiturskizze zu einer mechanischen Exzentrik.

A four-part succession of exhibitions with Société Anonyme, managed by Katherine Dreier and Marcel Duchamp organized. Moholy continues to perfect his photograms, now made in a darkroom with controlled lighting. He exhibits with the Abstract Section of the Experimental Art show at the Kronprinzenpalais in Berlin. One-man show at the Fides Gallery in Dresden.

Exhibition "Neue Reklame" in Kunstverein in Jena opened. Together with J. J. Oud and W. Piper he participates in the founding of the magazine i10, for which he is the film and photography editor. Participates in Mannheim in the exhibition "Wege und Richtungen der abstrakten Malerei Europas" (Ways and Directions of Abstract Painting in Europe).

Moholy resigns from Bauhaus. He returns to Berlin where he remains until 1934, working as a commercial artist, typographer, and independent curator. In February and March he is included in an exhibition at Johannes Itten's private art school in Berlin. "Neue Wege der Photogrpahie", an exhibition with Moholy and Lucia opens in Kunstverein in Jena. Meets the actress Ellen Frank through Piscator.

Moholy separates from Lucia and takes a studio in Berlin-Charlottenburg where he remains until moving to an apartment on Lietzenseeufer. Further involvement in exhibition, stage and costume design. He is hired as the stage designer at the Berlin Kroll Opera and at Erwin Piscator's political theatre. Three year design contract for the cover design of the fashion magazine Die Neue Linie (Leipzig/Berlin). Makes the film, Impressionen vom alten marseiller Hafen (vieux Port), one of seven surviving short films made by 1936.

Moholy designs a room for the German section of the exhibition "20e Salon des Artistes Décorateurs Français" in the Grand Palais in Paris, organised by the Deutsche Werkbund from May through July. First presentation of the "Lichtrequisit einer elektrischen Bühne) (the Light Space Modulator, nicknamed The Light Machine), a kinetic sculpture sponsored by the Berlin AEG and made by their theatrical department with the collaboration of Stephan Sebök and Hugo Ball. The Light Display Machine becomes the subject of his best-known film "Ein Lichtspiel 'schwarz weiss grau" (A lightplay black white grey).

Moholy is involved in exhibition design with Herbert Bayer for the "Deutsche Bundesausstellung" (National German Exhibition) in Berlin. He completes the film "Berliner Stilleben" (Berlin Still Life). In March his photographs are included in the "Exhibition of Foreign Advertising Photography" in New York City. In summer he makes a long trip to Scandinavia and visits Sweden, Norway, and Finland (with Ellen Frank). In October the Delphic Studios in New York exhibits his photographs, 37 of which were aquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1939. Julien Levy visits Moholy and buys some photographs from him with plans to stage a single-artist exhibition in his gallery in New York. Instead, he included the works in two group exhibitions in 1933. The Japanese version of "FiFo" (Film und Photo) exhibition, which included a large number of Moholy's photographs, opens in Tokyo and Osaka. During the winter of 1931/1932 he meets Sibylle Pietzsch in Berlin. She becomes his second wife.

Films "Tönendes ABC" (Sound ABC) and "Großstadt Zigeuner" (Big City Gypsies) are made. Moholy makes contact with the Abtraction-Création group in Paris. An English language edition of Von Material zu Architektur is published in the United States as "The New Vision". He participates in two exhibitions at the Julien Levy Gallery in New York: "Surrealism and Modern European Photography". A Lightplay Black White Grey is first shown at Camera Cinema on Unter den Linden in Berlin.

Travels to Athens to film the fourth CIAM (Congrès internationaux d'architecture moderne) dedicated to "The Functional City" and held from July 29th through August 14th. Makes film Architekturkongress. n February his photographs are included in an exhibition at the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Gallery in Springfield, Massachusetts. In February his film, Lightplay black white gray, is shown by Julien Levy in New York. Moholy-Nagy also shows this film in conjunction with a lecture at the Film Society in Amsterdam.

Moves to Amsterdam to work in a design studio, where he takes commercial work including advertising, layouts, and exhibition design. Travels regularly to London to study color photographic processes to use in his advertising work. Publishes articles on the role of art in industrial society. In June has a solo exhibition with the Abstraction-Création group in Paris. "Lichtspiel" is shown in Finland. Shows four short films in Den Haag in October.

Moholy moves to London, where he remains until 1937. Works as a commercial artist with György Kepes. He does interior design and display at Simpson's Piccadilly and the re-design of the advertisement material, from letterhead to poster layout to leaflet, for Imperial Airways, as well as the design of a travelling exhibition in a train wagon, and a poster commission for London Transport. Film commissions for "Lobsters" (1935) and "New Architecture and the London Zoo" (1936). He begins to paint on transparent plastics. Moholy's large retrospective exhibition is organized by the Czech architect, Frantisek Kalivoida, in the Arts and Crafts School in Ceské Budejovice (Budweis), which travelled to the House of Artists in Brno (Brünn).

Kalivoda devotes a special issue of the journal, "Telehor", to Moholy-Nagy's work. This issue, the only one published, includes articles by Moholy-Nagy, Giedion, Kalivoda. Moholy participates in the Abstraction-Création group exhibition in Paris. Designs special effects for Alexander Korda's film, "Things to Come" by H.G Wells, but they not used in the final version. Designs invitations and posters for exhibitions at the London Gallery. With Marcel Breuer designs, Moholy creates the exhibitor's stand for Courtauld's at the London Arts and Crafts Fair.

In January Moholy has a retrospective exhibition at the London Gallery. Through Gropius, he is appointed director of a design school in Chicago sponsored by the Association of Arts and Industries. He calls this school the New Bauhaus - American School of Design. The New Bauhaus opens in October on Prairie Avenue. Participates in the group show "Constructivists" in Basel in October. His work is included in the Degenerate Art exhibition in Munich, Germany as well as in an exhibition at the New Bauhaus in December. "The New Architecture" and "The London Zoo" were commissioned by the Museum of Modern Art and were first seen there in February, constituting Moholy's film debut at the MoMA.

A second touring exhibition, "A Brief Survey of Photography from 1839 - 1937" seen at the New Bauhaus from April to May, with a selection of Moholy's photographs previously shown at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1937. He has a one-man exhibition at the Fine Arts Society in Jacksonville, Florida. Moholy's work is included in the exhibition "Bauhaus 1919-1928", at the Museum of Modern Art in New York where at least three of his paintings and drawings and six photographs are shown. His "Light Prop for an Electrical Stage" is shown in motion. He contributes to the catalogue with "From Wine Jugs to Lighting Fixtures". A new edition of Moholy's "The New Vision" appears and more than 1,000 copies had been sold by Christmas 1938. The New Bauhaus closes in June. Moholy-Nagy returns to commercial work, which he continues to do intermittently for the duration of his life in Chicago

In February Moholy opens his own school, The School of Design in Chicago, on Ontario Street with the help of dedicated students and teachers. In April and May his work is shown at the Renaissance Society in Chicago. In November and December his work is included in the Société Anonyme/Museum of Modern Art exhibition in Springfield, Massachusetts. Makes stationary and mobile sculptures of transparent plastic often combined with chromed metal.

In January and February he has a one-man exhibition at the Katharine Kuh Gallery in Chicago. In May and June he participates in the American Abstract Art exhibition at the Galerie St. Etienne in New York. His work is included in the Museum of Modern Art exhibition, Sixty Photographs. The summer session of the School of Design is held at Mills College in Oakland, California. In July his work is included in the School of Design exhibition organized by the Mills College Art Gallery.

With Nathan Lerner and György Kepes he designs a show for the Museum of Modern Art, New York, "How to Make a Photogram". The show travels around the United States until 1943. In April has a one-man exhibition at The Museum of Non-Objective Art "Art of Tomorrow", New York, which later becomes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. In October his work is included in The Advanced Guard of Advertising Photography at the Katharine Kuh Gallery. In December his work is included in the Museum of Modern Art show "American Photography at $10". Moholy participates regularly in the Annual Exhibition of Chicago Artists at the Art Institute of Chicago through 1946.

The most direct involvement of Moholy and the School of Design in the American war effort was in the field of camouflage. The United States Civilian Defense certified the School of Design in Chicago for training in camouflage and a certified course opened on September 1942 (and ran until January 1943). Visited, lectured and taught at Texas State College for Women (TSCW) today's Texas Woman’s University (TUW). The event on June 5th, 1942 marked the first showing of films made by the School of Design. This consisted of three reels of color film documenting the work of the school, made possible by a grant of from the Rockefeller Foundation. This footage was a beginning of the film called "Design Workshops", which was shown in New York and Chicago in 1944.

In May Moholy gives a speech called "New Approach to Occupational Therapy" at the American Psychiatric Association. As a result, the School of Design offered two courses as courses in rehabilitation conducted by L. Moholy-Nagy and Eugene Bielawski, sponsored by the Deputy Director of the Mental Hygiene Service of the Illinois State Department of Public Welfare. Numerous texts on the subjects of design and photography are published. Participates in the founding of the Hungarian American Council for Democracy and becomes president of the Chicago chapter until 1945. Moholy begins writing his last book, "Vision in Motion", which presents his educational philosophy illustrated by the work of the Institute of Design.

Reorganization of The School of Design as The Institute of Design takes place. In May and June participates in the exhibition "Drawings by Contemporary Artists" at the Renaissance Society. Completes "Design Workshops," a colour film about the Institute of Design, as well as a number of shorter films about the activities of the school. Campaigns among Hungarian-Americans for the re-election of President Franklin D, Roosevelt. Moholy visited, lectured and taught at Texas State College for Women (TSCW), today's Texas Woman’s University (TUW).

In fall Moholy is diagnosed with leukemia. The Institute of Design moves to temporary quarters on North State Street. With Ralph Rapson designs an exhibition in Chicago for the U. S. Gypsum Company. Moholy makes the film, “Do Not Disturb,” with the film class of the Institute of Design.

In Februrary, Moholy has a retrospective exhibition at the Contemporary Arts Society at the Cincinnati Art Museum. With Arthur Siegel organizes a six-week summer symposium, "New Vision in Photography" at the Institute of Design. Third edition of The New Vision appears together with an autobiographical essay "Abstract of an Artist". During the last year of his life he produces photograms, photographs, color photographs, oil paintings, drawings, watercolors, and sculptures of Plexiglas and metal. He gives seminars and makes conference visits. In fall the Institute of Design moves to its own building on Dearborn Street. In April he becomes an American citizen. Moholy-Nagy dies of leukemia on 24 November in Chicago.

"Vision in Motion", is published posthumously. In spring a large memorial exhibition organized by the S. R. Guggenheim Foundation opens at the Museum of Non-Objective Art, New York, and travels around the United States for two years.