18|AULA cd so as to value empty space (as does Boccioni), and the use of new materials such as glass, steel, nylon and plastics. Constructivism: Light reaches the maximum prominence El Lissitsky, a member of the Constructive movement, drawn by the work of Malevich, will later have an influence in La Bauhaus and Die Stijl. His best-known works are “Proun” and “Three-dmensional models”, intended to be utilized objects. By his own definition they were “a station to change from the train of architecture to the train of painting”. On them he aims to integrate painting, architecture, sculpture, and other artistic mediums. The idea of total work of art becomes evident in the spaces of Proun: transitable architectural spaces in which his paintings are projected. From then on, the architectectural space and its atmosphere are necessarily present in the conception of art. The connection between the observer and the work of art through the three- dimensionality of the space confirm the ways of mutual interaction going on both directions. In this group, the presence of light will end up playing a key role in the comprehension of the work, to the point that it will end up being the only element object of the work of art, such as in the perceptuals cells of J. Turrell. Bauhaus: art and lighting lamps production In the Bauhaus, founded in Weimar in 1919 by Walter Gropius, the most important artists of the time will participate. Their teaching will be based in practical education organized around different workshops (sculpture, painting, carpentry, theater, glass, photography, ceramics, tipography, publicity, upholstery, architecture, metal and engraving). They will develope their experiments in a serial production that will be the beginning of today’s industrial design. In mid of the 20’s, the school will receive all the tendencies of the momento through the presence in its classrooms of artists such as P. Mondrian, Theo Van Doesbourg, J.P. Oud, K Schwitters, Tzara, Hausman, Arp, Marinetti, A. Gleizes y Laszló Moholy-Nagy. “Fotograma”, (1926.) Man Ray Aside from creating objects of ceramic and metal, such as vases, coffee sets and candelabras, a new tendency enters the workshop: lamp production. The metal workshop developed an industrial production of different lamps such as the well-known lamps by Karl J. Jucker and Wilheim Wagenfeld. Laszló Moholy-Nagy will create in 1930 “modulator-light-space”, considered the first kinetic luminous sculpture. It was a complex object, formed by elements of metal, plastic and glass, mobile by the action of an electric engine and surrounded by colored lights. With it, Moholy-Nagy produced light shows which he photographed and filmed. He also created lighting for scenographies for theater plays such as Madame Butterfly in Berlin, studying the effects of lights and shadows. His interest in photography will be evident in the attached photographs, where he will explore the effect of light, the impressions of light through the different supports, following the line started by Man Ray, years before. After the stock market “crack” of 1929, USA sank into a great depression that will drive artists, such as Edward Hopper, to reflect on the desolation of the urban landscape, the isolation and the loneliness. His work condense pictorial aspects of the light that removes it from being just a simple caricature. Hopper’s light is static, reduced to an instantaneous expression, a temporal flash, it stops in time devoid of movement and continuity. How is it possible that Hopper gives light this burden of statical emotionality, so different from the futuristic work of Carrá and Boccioni or the German expressionists with Vuillard? Not to mention the vibrant effects of postimpressionism and Rayonism. Hopper turns light into a dense color, a heavy slab of color that freezes movement and time. How does he play with transparency? How does he analize the reflections? He uses a difused light, as an example of a more generalized light; one that doesn’t emphazise the singularity of the features of the space and rejects the characteristics that differentiate people and things. A focalized light could introduce features of singularity in the picture establishing a distinguishing value. Hopper has no interest in this. He wants a uniform space, devoid of discriminations or singular accents, to increase the loneliness and emotional uniformity of his characters. In 1929, the Museum of Contemporary Art of New York was created, and in 1935, the Whitney Museum presented an excellent exhibition of northamerican abstract art. A year later, the group of American abstract art artists will be created. This new dynamic was fulfilled with the arrival to the United States of America of many artists and architects, representative of the European avant- guarde, that were fleeing their countries due to the Nazi regime and the onset of the second world war. The Pop Art movement made its appearance after the war was over and it will lead to the beginning of the Light Art as an artistic discipline in which light definitely leaves the pictorial canvas and expresses itself as art. ■