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The photographs on display in the National Gallery of Art's 'Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945' explore modern themes of the era Date published: 6/28/2007
By SHEILA WICKOUSKI For THE FREE LANCE-STAR Roman Vishniac's "Entrance to the Ghetto, Kazimierz" is a simple study in composition, perspective and shading. A silhouetted man is walking on a cobblestone path in a ghetto alleyway. Another smaller, shadowlike figure stands in the distance in front of a gate, behind which are apartment dwellings. We do not know where this man is coming from, but we assume that he is headed home. The casual scene could have occurred at any time over hundreds of years in Eastern Europe. Vishniac is one of the better-known of the hundreds of photographers whose ideas on modern themes are now on display in the National Gallery of Art's blockbuster exhibit "Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945." Vishniac's black-and-white photo takes on a dark significance in the 1930s as a document of faceless humanity, both Jewish and non-Jewish, walking not toward the comfort of a common heritage, but to the unimaginable chaos of World War II, toward holocaust in a world gone mad. Organized along eight thematic lines, this show tells a story of the complex ideas, hopes and emotions of the socially turbulent new nations that arose from the collapsed empires of Eastern Europe after World War I. In Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary and Poland, artists used photomontage to express the fragmentation and mechanization of society, as depicted in the part of the exhibit called "The Cut-and-Paste World: Recovering From War." Cameras were a popular creative outlet for both artists and amateurs. Experimentation in camera work and darkroom techniques, as well as classroom theory in art schools, reflected a belief that technology promised solutions for modern life. The "Modern Living" portion shows urban landscapes bustling with construction, with the undertones of anxi-ety that accompany massive changes. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy's "Radio Tower Berlin" is a good example. Taken from an impossible vantage point for any human being, the impersonal photo is an abstract architectural record meant for modern eyes.
Date published: 6/28/2007
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