Koizumi Kishio Kanda Myojin shrine 1937.

The Wolfsonian-FIU is in a transition period, awaiting to see what imprint the new director will have after the departure of longtime head Cathy Leff; with the downtown expansion; and anticipating the big Art Basel-timed exhibit “Myth and Machine: The First World War in Visual Culture,” which will open 100 years after the start of the Great War in 1914.

It’s a little bit of a downtime.

But some of the joy of visiting this eclectic museum that truly is a unique institution in the United States is about seeing the small, fascinating elements, the bits and pieces that have made up the aesthetics of modern history, over about the same time span as since the beginning of World War I. Two exhibits up right now reflect that – and they also reflect the ingenuity and resilience of people throughout the dramatic and traumatic past century.

“Koizumi Kishio: Remembering Tokyo” consists of 30 woodblock prints made by the artist in the aftermath of the devastating Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. These lovely prints are unsettling in the way they depict a simple, quiet, recovering world, which as we all know would be destroyed yet again in yet another World War. Japan, in fact, is synonymous with constant rebuilding, a place that rises from the ashes while firmly planted in its classical past. In the midst of the neon and skyscrapers, after surviving tsunamis and earthquakes, the flawlessly clean, sparse architecture of its temples, the zen of its gardens, remain. These prints express that timelessness and resolve.

Early map, Panama Canal.

In the Rare Book and Special Collections Vestibule, another feat of human endurance is documented in a literal way, in “Wonders Never Cease: The 100th Anniversary of the Panama Canal.” While Europe was destroying itself with war, the attempt to link the world in one of the most incredible engineering marvels of all time was completed when the Americas were dissected by this waterway – but also not without huge loss of life and destruction of the land.

These aren’t blockbuster shows, they are the little gems that make the Wolfsonian its own enlightening rock.

“Koizumi Kishio: Remembering Tokyo” runs through Jan. 11, 2015 and “Wonders Never Cease: The 100th Anniversary of the Panama Canal” runs through Nov. 23, 2014 at the Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; www.wolfsonian.org.