The year 1940 may seem like inopportune timing for an exhibition promoting modern architecture in Bohemia. However, as it would appear later, it was the last chance for decades. “Towards a New Architecture” at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague borrowed its title from Le Corbusier’s iconic 1923 book. The show represented Czech functionalism in a broader historical context. At the same time it symbolized its architects’ optimistic visions for the future. 

This ambitious exhibition project had been planned since the mid-1930s in conjunction with an extensive catalog. As a first complex assessment of the evolution of Czech modern architecture since the beginning of 20^th century this book had the highest priority. Editors and curators know how hard it is to meet deadlines, particularly with many contributors writing on a range of topics. Therefore, the organization around Architektura magazine postponed the show to allow the book to grow. With content almost completed, the exhibition opened to the public in May 1940, over a year after the Nazi occupation.

Under these political conditions, the hundreds of photos of modern architecture were nothing short of an act of bravery. A brand new garden—the only full-scale exhibit—offered space for dance performances and open-air lectures. For educational purposes, there was a library with a reading room. The book that everyone was waiting for, however, was not there—not even in September when the show came to an end. 

By 1941 publishing the catalog had become impossible with passages struck due to censorship. And after the war, with social realism on the rise, there was no chance to print a book on modern architecture, either. Today, the catalog remains preserved as a typescript, a few copies with editorial notes, which have stayed unpublished and forgotten. 

Exhibitions are temporary events and catalogs are among the tangible evidence of a curator’s efforts. So, how can you tell when it’s time to give up? Is it a month, a year, a decade or longer after an exhibition closes its doors? What about 80 years later?

md.