Old Berlin in New York

A new exhibition of artwork from Berlin between the world wars is drawing hundreds per day at the Neue Galerie in New York City. Ludwig Meidner’s "I and the City" (1913) functions as a sort of set piece to the show, called "Berlin Metropolis: 1918-1933."

A number of works by George Grosz, like "Panorama (Down With Liebknecht)" (1919) capture the chaos that engulfed Germany after World War 1. "In the same way they were sort of dealing with the modern metropolis, that’s kind of how we're dealing with technology now," a spokeswoman noted. "Everything is changing so quickly, we don't really know how to make sense of it."

"Dada Triumphs" (1920), by Raoul Housman. While it is unusual for US museums to focus on Dadaism, the first room of "Berlin Metropolis" puts a spotlight on the short-lived movement.

Architectural visions for a utopian future flourished before the start of World War II. "Berlin Metropolis" includes models and plans like this corner of a proposed Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1921).

Complementing acerbic images of family and working life in the exhibit, a vitrine showcases fashions aimed at "the modern woman" - such as this 1920s embroidered coat.

A poster for the 1927 film "Berlin: Symphony of the Metropolis." The movie's black-and-white scenes of everyday life play on continuous loop. "It's intriguing to me to see what life was like then and what it ended up being, and to think of all the turmoil that went on in between," one visitor remarked. "Berlin Metropolis: 1918-1933" runs until January 4 at New York's Neue Galerie.

What was the effect of modern urban life on the psyche? Works like Egon Erwin Kisch's "The Racing Reporter" (1926) offer critical answers.

The exhibit closes with a series of works dealing with the rise of Nazism. As the productivity of the Weimar years came to an end, Rudolf Schlichter took on the Nazis' brutality with "Blind Power" (1937).