The artworks, art historical texts and the photographs that illustrate them are influenced by the context of the time for which they were created. The surviving photographs and published reproductions of artworks from the interwar period show a previously unusual attention to detail. Using selected examples, the exhibition will show that the motivations for the use of detail could have been varied.

As illustrated by Bohuslav Slánský's text and photographs of medieval panel portraits attributed to Master Theodoric, reproduced in Volné směry in 1935, one of the purposes behind the commissions for enlarged photographic details of works of art was, for example, planned restoration interventions. According to the editor-in-chief of Volné směry, Emil Filla, and his manifesto article The Work of the Eye, the desire to change the viewing habits of the public was behind the frequent use of photographic detail. This intention materialized in the magazine thanks to the long-term cooperation with photographer Josef Sudek.

Examples from the photographic campaigns led by Jan Štence or the project by Karel Šourek, Alexander Paul and František Illek, Documenta Bohemia Artis Phototypica, are proof that photographic detail was also used to show the structure and texture of a work, to bring otherwise distant works closer together or for comparison purposes.