Following the symposium “documenta. History / Art / Politics” (organized by the Deutsches Historisches Museum on October 15, 2019), a media debate is currently unfolding on Werner Haftmann’s (1912–1999) Nazi past. The art historian was a formative figure in Arnold Bode’s team during the first three editions of the World Art Exhibition.
documenta was launched in 1955 to document the roots and role models of contemporary art, especially for a young audience (hence the name documenta), and thus to present to a broad public art that had been outlawed as degenerate modern art under National Socialism. Haftmann’s NSDAP membership now emerging raises questions about the extent to which documenta’s founding claim, often interpreted as a counter-draft to Nazi art policy, should be reassessed.
An examination of Haftmann’s biography was already undertaken on a scholarly level in the past. On the occasion of documenta’s 50th anniversary in 2005, the documenta archiv and external partners also took a critical look at the reception of the early documenta exhibitions with “archive in motion”. Furthermore, artistic directors and artists have repeatedly addressed the beginnings of documenta, most recently at documenta 14.
Commenting on this, Dr. Sabine Schormann, General Director of documenta und Museum Fridericianum gGmbH, said: “We welcome and support an independent, scholarly and critical examination of our own history, which also means that a younger generation of researchers takes a more objective look at the founding period. This is part of documenta’s identity. In this context, the documenta archiv, which is open to independent research at any time, and the planned documenta Institute play an important role.” Dr. Sabine Schormann continues: “On-going research into the history of documenta’s impact is a central task of the documenta Institute, jointly planned by the federal state, city and university.”
For the exhibition scheduled at the Deutsches Historisches Museum in 2021 – among other things tracing documenta’s origins – the documenta archiv will ensure the accessibility of the archive materials and support the relevant scholars in their research. The survey exhibition “about: documenta” that opened in November 2019 at the Neue Galerie, on the other hand, aims to provide a broad overview of all documenta exhibitions while not claiming to go into any greater depth.