London’s street markets by László Moholy-Nagy

Moholy-Nagy lived in London between 1935 and 1937. He settled in Hampstead, north London, among other artists and intellectuals who’d fled political instability in Europe. He took on lots of commercial work. This both paid the rent, and was part of his artistic practice. He designed posters for London Transport and took photographs for international architectural magazine The Architectural Review.

The Street Markets of London, published in 1936, was one of three books Moholy-Nagy was commissioned to take photos for in England. He shot the lively atmosphere around London’s street sellers, and journalist Mary Benedetta wrote the book’s text. The commission was an opportunity for Moholy-Nagy to engage with his new home.

Here, Moholy-Nagy captures an elevated view of Caledonian Market in Islington. Back in the 1930s, it was London’s largest street market. After the Second World War (1939–1945), it moved to Bermondsey, Southwark, and the site was redeveloped as a housing estate and park.

Moholy-Nagy saw this project as an opportunity to provide a “pictorial record of modern city life”. In the book’s preface, he wrote: “these markets are primarily to be regarded as a social necessity, the shopping-centre, in fact, for a large part of the working-class.”

Often, the people in his photographs don’t seem to notice Moholy-Nagy. On other projects, he usually worked with a large camera to produce very detailed photographs. But he acknowledged it would be too difficult to haul one around the streets. Instead, Moholy-Nagy opted for a smaller Leica camera, which meant he could photograph quickly and remain unobserved.

“The large camera is much too clumsy for taking rapid shots without being observed,” he wrote. “The whole street immediately crowds around the photographer, the natural life of the scene is paralysed and the characteristic features of the traders, their happy-go-lucky behavior, their elementary actor’s skill, their impetuosity, are lost.”

In January 1937, the London Gallery held a retrospective exhibition of Moholy-Nagy’s work. The same year, he moved to Chicago to become the director at the New Bauhaus design school.