Although the photograph was taken in 1955, it could stand as an acknowledgement of the world in which children in the U.S. live today.

A young boy peers out of what appears to be a bus window, but his right eye is hidden by cracks radiating from the point of original impact that caused the window’s extensive damage. “Colorado 1955 (Cracked Glass with Boy)” by Parisian-born photographer Elliott Erwitt likely resonates quite differently in the 21st century than it did in mid-20th century. It’s the kind of image that might bear a trigger warning today but could have been seen as just part of a hardscrabble Colorado childhood at mid-century.

Erwitt’s photograph is one of nearly 20 in VMFA’s new photography exhibit, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” The title is taken from a 1923 Robert Frost poem about the fragility and transience of childhood, a poem that ends: “So dawn goes down to day/Nothing gold can stay.” The work in this exhibition covers the 19th century through the present, looking at the emotional and social dynamics of childhood and adolescence, the bonds and burdens of family and, inevitably, the impermanence of youth.  The exhibition was curated by Dr. Sarah Kennel, VMFA’s Aaron Siskind Curator of Photography and Director of the Raysor Center for Works on Paper.

Fast forward nearly 50 years from Erwitt’s enigmatic image to German photographer Sibylle Bergemann’s “Elizabeth, Berlin” image from 2002, depicting a very different sense of childhood. The close-up photograph of a young girl addresses some of the ways femininity is taught, learned and practiced from a shockingly young age. The child’s unwavering gaze and carefully applied lipstick project an adult confidence that few children in 1955 likely could have called upon. At once compelling and disturbing, the photograph makes clear that Elizabeth not only knows how to strike a pose for the camera, but she also possesses an awareness, not to mention a level of comfort, of what it means to be looked at. Childhood is already in her rearview mirror.

The photographs in “Nothing Gold Can Stay” are drawn from the recent gifts of collector Joseph Baio, who has amassed a collection of 5,000 images around the topic of childhood, adolescence and family, a subject that spoke to Baio once he became a father. His recent donation of 200 photographs to VMFA includes works by famous names such as Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson and William Eggleston.

Arbus, one of the most influential and pioneering photographers of the 20th century, is represented here by “Woman Carrying Child in Central Park” from 1956. Compared to some of her more lurid images such as “Child with Toy hand Grenade in Central Park” or “A Jewish Giant at Home with His Parents in the Bronx,” the somber-looking woman pictured appears fairly typical of the Eisenhower years. But as with any Arbus photograph, the viewer has questions: Why does a boy so large need to be carried? Is he sleeping or injured? Did Arbus take the image simply because it was so unclear what had happened to this woman and child in her viewfinder? As with many Arbus photographs, the possibilities are endless.

Dawoud Bey’s “Mandy” from 1998 showcases three large-format Polaroid camera portraits of the adolescent Mandy. Bey’s method was to take multiple photos of his subjects from different angles to capture not just their choices in dress and adornment, but their various gazes and gestures. The three images of Mandy capture pensive and inward-facing emotions as she turns away from the camera, hinting at the challenges of the teen years.

A commercial photographer who pursued street photography in her off hours, Arlene Gottfried produced a rich body of work in the ‘70s and ‘80s exploring New York City’s Puerto Rican communities. “No Wheels, El Barrio” from 1978 depicts a young Puerto Rican boy astride a bicycle without wheels. The beauty of Gottfried’s photograph is that she’s captured a child living in extreme circumstances – the street is pitted and littered with trash and debris – yet the boy can’t be stopped from using the bicycle frame in some sort of imaginative play. It speaks to the potential of childhood in all its unlikely forms.

Born in the U.S. and raised in Japan, Yasuhiro Ishimoto returned to his birthplace as a young adult, only to be incarcerated during World War II as an “enemy alien.”  After his release, he studied photography at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago where he documented the city’s distinctive architecture and its communities.

In “Untitled Chicago” from 1949-50, he captures a young boy posing against a seedy-looking building, his hand resting on a tire, presumably a plaything. Ishimoto was particularly attuned to capturing children with sensitivity and without sentimentality, so the boy is portrayed as comfortable with himself, willing to pose but without any subtext about his circumstances or the world he lives in. Just the facts, ma’am.

Anyone headed to VMFA for the spectacular Frida Kahlo exhibit would do themselves a favor to stop by the photography gallery to take in “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” It’s a well-curated, multi-faceted reminder of the simple pleasures and complex challenges of being young.

“Nothing Gold Can Stay” runs through Oct. 5 at VMFA, 200 Arthur Ashe Blvd. Free admission. Visit the museum’s website for more info.