New to the documenta archive: the estate of Karl Oskar Blase

The documenta archiv is taking over the valuable estate of graphic designer Karl Oskar Blase (1925–2016). Blase was one of the most influential graphic designers and poster artists in the Federal Republic of Germany. For decades, the Kassel-based professor of art and visual communication shaped the visual identity of documenta.

Over more than five decades as a designer and freelance artist, Karl Oskar Blase built an impressive and complex graphic and artistic oeuvre. Blase, who developed his work within the Bauhaus tradition, had his sights set on all cultural sectors from the very beginning: In the young Federal Republic, he created film, theater, and exhibition posters—for example, starting in 1952 on commission from the America Houses in Germany—and soon also promotional materials for the State Theater in Kassel. In addition, his legendary stamp designs have become firmly etched in the visual memory of the postwar decades, including series on the Olympic Games and portraits of Kurt Schumacher and Mahatma Gandhi.

Blase had been associated with documenta since its third edition. In 1964, he established the “Graphic Arts” department at the Staatliche Werkkunstschule Kassel. In the years that followed, he designed the logo, graphics, and typography for documenta 4 (1968), documenta 5 (1972), documenta 6 (1977), and documenta 8 (1987). During his long teaching career—beginning in 1966 as a professor first at the Werkkunstschule and later at the University of Kassel—Blase inspired generations of young designers. He played a key role in helping Kassel rise to become one of the most influential centers for graphic design since the 1960s. Beyond the university and his work in the context of documenta, he was also actively involved in the city’s cultural life: a member of the board of the Kassel Art Association since 1968, he served as its chairman from 1979 to 1983. His sculptural designs, including the renowned Kassel Citizens’ Award “Glas der Vernunft” (Glass of Reason), established in 1991, as well as his artistic works, are waiting to be rediscovered.

By acquiring his extensive artistic and written estate, the documenta archiv secures a cultural heritage of great significance for the history of design in the Federal Republic of Germany. Blase’s designs, correspondence, and working materials—approximately 60 linear meters of photographs and films, models, prints and printing blocks, drawings, and paintings—also shed new light on creative processes, documenta, and the cultural networks of the 20th century.

Speaking at the public press conference on April 14, 2026, at 11 am

Prof. Dr. Andreas Hoffmann
Managing Director of documenta and Museum Fridericianum gGmbH

Dr. Birgitta Coers
Director of the documenta archive

Saskia Mattern
Deputy Director / Head of Archives & Collections

Benjamin Blase
Artist