 | The interwar period proved to be a great time for European photography, as the new form of art gained an extraordinary success and popularity in countries such as Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, at a time when democratic and traditional societies were in turmoil due to the political and social unrest. The exhibition "Modernity in Central Europe. 1918 - 1945", hosted by the Guggenheim Museum in New York, is the first to present in the US the fascinating history of this major chapter in the development of photography.
At that time, after a World War that had forever changed the face of Europe, while governments colapssed day by day, art and culture had a brilliant revival, although marked by the horrors of the conflagration and by the threat, which would eventually prove founded, of another World War. Photography became the new medium and fired up the minds and creative imaginations of many artists all around Europe. |
Besides the masters of photography that made themselves known, tens of thousands of amateurs began photographying, as the cost of cameras and films dropped. Photography would eventually became a landmark of progress and an important symbol of modernity, being used in magazines, newspapers and exhibitions, but also in everyday life, to capture those special moments.
The show presented at the Guggenheim Museum is divided by it's organisers into eight sections, each focusing on a theme, bringing together an impressive gathering of more than 150 photogrpahs, photomontages, books, illustrated magazines. Many of the artworks on display are made by famous photographers such as El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Hannah Hoch, Stefan Themerson, Kazimierz Podsadecki, some of them forgotten today, but very popular in their age. Put together as a whole, this eight chapters present the quick evolution, dymanism and variety of Central European photography in 1918 - 1945, presenting to American audience a virtually unknown chapter of art and history.
Although the selection of the works in question was difficult, organisers have already anounced that the exhibits selected are only the best of their kind, providing a complete and interesting image of that age in photography history.
Photo : guggenheim.org
2007-08-22
