The Arts in New York City

FOTO:
Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945

Photographs can capture moments that want to be remembered forever. However, in this exhibition photography was utilized as an instrument of perception, illustrating the ultimate central European model of modernity.  As an immediate result of World War I, much of the mighty empires shattered into several apprehensive nation-states.   The crises of civil war, unemployment, and inflation contributed to the volatility of the central European societies. Popularity of photography in the area led to the rise of the press and other creative techniques like photomontage: which is the result of making a composite photography by cutting and joining a number of other photographs. The exhibition is a significant visual element of what can be called the timeline of the history of photography. It signifies the powerful contribution of Central Europe to the advancement of photography.
In the 1920s and 1930s, photography served as a powerful catalyst employed by progressive artists and the Surrealist movement. The mass media proliferated at a rapid pace, especially in Germany, which was by now producing more illustrated periodicals than any other country in the world. The huge acceptance of photography in central Europe was largely possible because of the established institutions with strong roots in the region like applied art schools, commercial studios, and other photographic training establishments. Innovative approaches to produce powerful and thought-provoking pieces offered a new vision in the technological domain of the period.
An explosion of unconventional forms of photography gave birth to procedures like abstract photograms, photomontages, and combinations of graphic design with a modern touch. Photomontage began as a result of the recovery from war. Response to the horrific automation and the demise of so many human bodies took form of photomontage. This concept was also at times considered as a form of visual poetry, depicting the many attitudes and emotions during the war as well as postwar sentiments like chaos, anticipation, and anxiety.

An entire section of the exhibition was devoted to the “New Women – New Men” concept, which suggested a shift in roles of both men and women alike. The death of so many men in World War I radically altered gender roles.  This “New Woman” was in the middle of intense controversy for many and upset the traditional roles for men and women.

The exhibition clearly expressed the crucial role of photography in the 1920s and 1930s in Central Europe. The display `decaptured the diversifying works of so many artists; it was almost too much to absorb all at once. However, the unpredictability of the exhibition kept me attentive and asking for more. There were artists like Karel Picka whose pieces incorporated “ethnography”, emphasizing the countryside, giving the impression of an attempt to establish a connection with the people that the artist captured. Similarly, August Sander created a collection of portraits of Germans taken during the first half of the twentieth century in his “Citizens of the Twentieth Century”. The collection includes local farmers, workers, women, artists, the big city, and “the last people.”
Surrealist imagination also greatly influenced the production of the era. Surrealism was the key force that drove avant-garde artists to make interactions with the societal transformations from conventions to spiritual freedom, poetry, and eroticism. An example would be Jindrich Styrksy’s “Emilie Comes to me in a Dream” in which he denounces society for condemning sex while celebrating war and violence.
During a time of terror and hardships, photojournalism updated citizens with the latest important events and providing job opportunities for those battling unemployment. Artists like Kata Kalman experimented with social photography in Hungry. As an activist, she exposed the impoverished lives of workers, poor children, and Gypsy girls. She revealed the reality that was never acknowledged in a way that the audience couldn’t escape it. Photography soon became a prevailing political tool, that spoke the truth about urban life and demanded justice for those like the proletariat.