Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, 1918-1945.

National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.

The show--the first survey of the subject--showcases more than 150 pieces demonstrating the incredible success and popularity of photography in Austria, Czechoslovakia Germany, Hungary, and Poland at a time of great social and political turmoil. It was a moment and place of creative ferment in the arts and in optimism in national ambitions. In this bubbling region, photography--popularized in newspapers, advertising, magazines and books--was a symbol of modernity. Photography produced a flow of images, some of them daily visual fare, some of them striking individual images of surrealism and daring experimental photography. All these hopes for Central Europe were cut short by political tragedy in the form of World War II and the postwar Soviet-backed Communist takeover. Looking back, this show celebrates an often-overlooked high moment of culture in this region. It also summons the...