II. documenta

The poster is lengthwise and is divided into three color areas: red, blue and yellow. There are black drawings on the color fields. The information about the exhibition is written above the color fields.
Exhibition poster documenta 2 (1959)

Art after 1945. international exhibition

Artistic Direction

Arnold Bode

Venues
Museum Fridericianum, Orangerie, Schloss Bellevue
Artists

339

Visitors

134.000

Budget

991,000 DM

Where swastikas were emblazoned in 1933, the small "d" now dominates Friedrichsplatz on posters and flags. By its second edition, documenta has already established itself as a brand. With the founding of a supporting company, documenta GmbH, the exhibition was institutionalized and was now to take place every four years. While the documenta of 1955, with its revision of the avant-garde after the "lost years" of National Socialism, was inevitably designed to be retrospective, the aim now was to tie in with contemporary art.

Once again, founder Arnold Bode was assisted by historian Werner Haftmann. The stocktaking of art after 1945 followed the motto "Art has become abstract", which was by no means uncontroversial in the almost moralistic debate about contemporary art at the time, in which supporters and opponents of abstract art fought bitterly, especially in Germany. Haftmann substantiated his thesis in two subsections: "The Masters of 20th Century Art" (here exclusively Wassily Kandinsky, Paul Klee and Piet Mondrian) and "Pioneers of 20th Century Sculpture" (Julio González Henri Laurens, Henri Matisse and others). Although a number of figurative tendencies were shown at documenta 2 (in painting, for example, with Francis Bacon, Werner Heldt, Rudolf Hausner), Werner Haftmann's concept postulated the thesis of a continuity in the development of 20th century art towards abstraction – a thesis that could not be upheld in view of the diverse manifestations in 20th century art.

Realist tendencies were almost completely ignored at documenta 2 – at the height of the Cold War, this was also a clear political statement. The Fridericianum was dominated by the abstract trends of Art Informel and Tachisme. The arrival (there was even talk of an "invasion") of abstract positions from the USA was particularly spectacular, with formats that were sometimes gigantic by European standards – such as Jackson Pollock, who had his own room alongside Nicolas de Staël, Willi Baumeister and Wols. In addition to the Fridericianum, the ruins of the baroque Orangerie at the entrance to the Karlsaue, which was also bombed during the Second World War, were added as a second exhibition venue; in contrast to the paintings shown in the Fridericianum, figurative positions predominated here. The sculptures by Henry Moore, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, Norbert Kricke and others were mostly placed on pedestals in front of a whitewashed wall; the expanse of the Karlswiese and the park would only be conquered by the sculptures in later documenta exhibitions. Bode's sense of grand staging came to the fore here in particular: a sculpture boulevard was erected in front of the ruins of the Orangerie in a labyrinthine exhibition architecture, which was spectacularly illuminated at night. Symbolically charged, Ossip Zadkine's bronze sculpture The Destroyed City (1951-53) stretched its arms accusingly towards the sky. During the day, visitors could relax in organically curved deckchairs under awnings and watch the water games in a fountain basin specially created for Picasso's sculpture group The Bathers (1956). In addition to the "Painting and Sculpture Committee" (Arnold Bode, Herbert Freiherr v. Buttlar, Ernest Goldschmidt, Will Grohmann, Werner Haftmann, Ernst Holzinger, Kurt Martin, Werner Schmalenbach, Eduard Trier, Heinrich Stünke; for the American artists: Porter A. McCray from the Museum of Modern Art, New York), there was also a committee for prints (Bode, Schmalenbach, Stünke), which were presented in a separate exhibition in Bellevue Palace.

A total of 1770 exhibits by 325 artists and eleven female artists, mainly from Europe and the USA, were shown. With 134,000 visitors, documenta 2 attracted even more interested visitors than its predecessor (the continuous increase in visitors was to continue until the last, 13th edition in 2012), but the public reaction was no longer as unbrokenly positive as in 1955, but strongly polarized between enthusiastic approval and rejection - corresponding to the camps of supporters and opponents of abstract art.

The forecourt of the Fridericianum. Flags of documenta 2 are flying and the Prtikus is decorated with banners.
Museum Fridericianum (1959)
People are sitting in a square that is partially covered. Sculptures can be seen in the background.
Pablo Picasso, Les baigneurs (1957) © Pablo Picasso/VG Bild-Kunst. Photo: Günther Becker
A large, colorful painting hangs on the wall. Visitors are sitting on a bench in front of it, talking to each other.
Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Das Freiburger Bild (1956)

Artists

a

  • Acht, René
  • Adam, Henri-Georges
  • Aeschbacher, Hans
  • Altenbourg, Gerhard
  • Appel, Karel
  • Ardon, Mordechai
  • Armitage, Kenneth
  • Arp, Hans

b

  • Bakić, Vojin
  • Baldaccini, César
  • Bargheer, Eduard
  • Basaldella, Afro
  • Basaldella, Mirko
  • Battke, Heinz
  • Batz, Eugen
  • Baumeister, Willi
  • Bazaine, Jean
  • Baziotes, William
  • Beaudin, André
  • Beck, Gustav Kurt
  • Beckmann, Max
  • Bellmer, Hans
  • Bergman, Anna-Eva
  • Berke, Hubert
  • Bertrand, Gaston
  • Beverloo, Cornelis Guillaume van
  • Bill, Max
  • Birolli, Renato
  • Bissier, Julius
  • Bissière, Roger
  • Bloc, André
  • Bluhm, Norman
  • Boccioni, Umberto
  • Bodmer, Walter
  • Bonnet, Anne
  • Braque, Georges
  • Braun, Theo
  • Brauner, Victor
  • Brooks, James
  • Brâncuşi, Constantin
  • Brüning, Peter
  • Buchheister, Carl
  • Burri, Alberto
  • Burssens, Jan
  • Butler, Reg

c

  • Calder, Alexander
  • Camaro, Alexander
  • Campigli, Massimo
  • Capogrossi, Giuseppe
  • Cappello, Carmelo
  • Cassinari, Bruno
  • Castro, Sergio de
  • Cavallon, Giorgio
  • Chadwick, Lynn
  • Childs, Bernhard
  • Chillida, Eduardo
  • Cimiotti, Emil
  • Clavé, Antoni
  • Cliffe, Henry
  • Coester, Otto
  • Consagra, Pietro
  • Corpora, Antonio
  • Courtin, Pierre
  • Cousins, Harold B.
  • Cuixart, Modesto

d

  • Dahmen, Karl Fred
  • Davie, Alan
  • De Chirico, Giorgio
  • Degottex, Jean
  • Delahaye, Jacques Charles
  • Delaunay, Robert
  • Delvaux, Paul
  • Derain, André
  • Deyrolle, Jean Jacques
  • Dodeigne, Eugène
  • Dorazio, Piero
  • Dova, Gianni
  • Dubuffet, Jean
  • Dufour, Bernard
  • Dunoyer de Ségonzac, André Dunoyer

e

  • Eble, Theo
  • Ernst, Max
  • Estève, Maurice
  • Evans, Merlyn

f

  • Fazzini, Pericle
  • Faßbender, Joseph
  • Fedier, Franz
  • Feito, Luis
  • Ferber, Herbert
  • Fontana, Lucio
  • Franchina, Nino
  • Francis, Sam
  • Frankenthaler, Helen
  • Franz Lambert
  • Friedel
  • Friesz, Othon

g

  • Gabo, Naum
  • Gaul, Winfred
  • Geiger, Rupprecht
  • Georges, Claude
  • Germain, Jacques
  • Giacometti, Alberto
  • Gilioli, Emile
  • Gilles, Werner
  • Gillet, Roger Edgar
  • Goldberg, Michael
  • Goller, Bruno
  • Gonzalez, Julio
  • Gorky, Arshile
  • Gottlieb, Adolph
  • Greis, Otto
  • Grieshaber, HAP
  • Gris, Juan
  • Gromaire, Marcel
  • Guston, Philip
  • Gyözö
  • Götz, Karl Otto

h

  • Haass, Terry
  • Haese, Roël d'
  • Hajdu, Etienne
  • Hajek, Otto-Herbert
  • Hantaï, Simon
  • Harnest, Fritz
  • Hartigan, Grace
  • Hartung, Hans
  • Hartung, Karl
  • Hausner, Rudolf
  • Hayter, Stanley William
  • Heiliger, Bernhard
  • Heldt, Werner
  • Helmut Andreas Paul
  • Hepworth, Barbara
  • Herbin, Auguste
  • Herkenrath, Peter
  • Hermanns, Ernst
  • Heyboer, Anton
  • Hilton, Roger
  • Hoehme, Gerhard
  • Hoflehner, Rudolf
  • Hofmann, Hans

i

  • Inoue, Yûichi
  • Iseli, Rolf

j

  • Jacobsen, Robert
  • Jansen, Franz M.
  • Jendritzko, Guido
  • Jorn, Asger

k

  • Kandinsky, Wassily
  • Kantor, Tadeusz
  • Kemeny, Zoltan
  • Kermadec, Eugène de
  • Kirchner, Ernst-Ludwig
  • Kirchner, Heinrich
  • Klee, Paul
  • Kline, Franz
  • Koenig, Fritz
  • Kohler, Max
  • Kokoschka, Oskar
  • Kooning, Willem de
  • Kricke, Norbert
  • Kügler, Rudolf

l

  • Lam, Wifredo
  • Landhuyt, Octave
  • Landhuyt, Octave
  • Lanskoy, André
  • Lanskoy, André
  • Lanyon, Peter
  • Lanyon, Peter
  • Lardera, Berto
  • Lardera, Berto
  • Lassaw, Ibram
  • Lassaw, Ibram
  • Lataster, Ger
  • Lataster, Ger
  • Laurens, Henri
  • Laurens, Henri
  • Lebenstein, Jan
  • Le Corbusier
  • Le Moal, Jean

m

  • Malevic, Kasimir
  • Manessier, Alfred
  • Manzù, Giacomo
  • Marc, Franz
  • Marca-Relli, Conrad
  • Marcks, Gerhard
  • Marczynski, Adam
  • Marfaing, André
  • Marini, Marino
  • Marquet, Albert
  • Masson, André
  • Mastroianni, Umberto
  • Mataré, Ewald
  • Mathieu, Georges
  • Matisse, Henri
  • Matschinsky-Denninghoff, Brigitte
  • Matta, Roberto Sebastian
  • Meadows, Bernard
  • Meistermann, Georg
  • Mendelson, Marc
  • Merwart, Ludwig
  • Mettel, Hans
  • Michaux, Henri
  • Minassian, Leone
  • Miró, Joan
  • Mitchell, Joan
  • Mondrian, Piet
  • Moore, Henry
  • Morandi, Giorgio
  • Moreni, Mattia
  • Morlotti, Ennio
  • Mortensen, Richard
  • Motherwell, Robert
  • Murtic, Edo
  • Mühlenen, Max von
  • Müller, Robert
  • Müller-Hufschmid, Willi

n

  • Nay, Ernst Wilhelm
  • Nele, E. R.
  • Nemes, Endre
  • Nesch, Rolf
  • Newman, Barnett
  • Nicholson, Ben
  • Nieuwenhuys, Constant A.
  • Noguchi, Isamu
  • Nolan, Sidney Robert
  • Nolde, Emil

o

  • Oelze, Richard
  • Orgeix, Christian de
  • Ostrower, Fayga

p

  • Paolozzi, Eduardo
  • Pasmore, Victor
  • Penalba, Alicia
  • Perilli, Achille
  • Pevsner, Antoine
  • Piaubert, Jean
  • Picasso, Pablo
  • Piet
  • Pignon, Edouard
  • Piza, Arthur Luiz
  • Platschek, Hans
  • Poliakoff, Serge
  • Pollock, Jackson
  • Pomodoro, Arnaldo
  • Pomodoro, Gio
  • Potworowski, Peter
  • Pousette-Dart, Richard
  • Prassinos, Mario

r

  • Rauschenberg, Robert
  • Rebeyrolle, Paul
  • Richier, Germaine
  • Riedl, Fritz
  • Riopelle, Jean Paul
  • Ris, Günter Ferdinand
  • Ritschl, Otto
  • Roesch, Kurt
  • Rohde, Gerburg
  • Rompel, Hans
  • Roszak, Theodore
  • Rothko, Mark
  • Rouault, Georges

s

  • Santomaso, Giuseppe
  • Saura, Antonio
  • Scanavino, Emilio
  • Schaper, Karl
  • Scharff, Edwin
  • Schlemmer, Oskar
  • Schneider, Gérard
  • Schoeffer, Nicolas
  • Schultze, Bernard
  • Schumacher, Emil
  • Schwitters, Kurt
  • Scialoja, Toti
  • Scott, William
  • Seitz, Gustav
  • Serpan, Jaroslaw
  • Seuphor, Michel
  • Stadler, Toni
  • Stahly, François
  • Stamos, Theodoros
  • Staël, Nicolas de
  • Still, Clyfford
  • Stupica, Gabrijel
  • Sugai, Kumi
  • Sutherland, Graham
  • Szenes, Árpád

t

  • Tajiri, Shinkichi
  • Tal-Coat, Pierre
  • Tamayo, Rufino
  • Tanguy, Yves
  • Tanning, Dorothea
  • Tejima, Yûkei
  • Thieler, Fred
  • Tobey, Mark
  • Tomlin, Bradley Walker
  • Trier, Hann
  • Trsar, Drago
  • Trökes, Heinz
  • Turcato, Giulio
  • Twardowicz, Ann
  • Tworkov, Jack
  • Tàpies, Antoni

u

  • Ubac, Raoul
  • Uhlmann, Hans

v

  • Van Lint, Louis
  • Vasarely, Victor
  • Vedova, Emilio
  • Velde, Geer van
  • Viani, Alberto
  • Vieira da Silva, Marie Hélène
  • Villon, Jacques
  • Vordemberge-Gildewart, Friedrich

w

  • Wendland, Gerhard
  • Werdehausen, Hans
  • Werner, Theodor
  • Werner, Woty
  • Wind, Gerhard
  • Winter, Fritz
  • Wolf, Karl Anton
  • Wols (Schulze, Wolfgang)
  • Wotruba, Fritz
  • Wynter, Bryan

y

  • Yamazaki, Taiho

z

  • Zadkine, Ossip
  • Zimmermann, Mac
  • Zürn, Unica

Artistic Director

Arnold Bode
born 1900 in Kassel, died 1977 in Kassel

  • 1919 - 1924
    Studied painting and graphics at the Kunstakademie Kassel, Kassel

  • 1922 - 1929
    Art exhibitions of modern art in the Orangery in Kassel

  • 1925
    Founding of the Kassel Secession and the artists' group Die Fünf

  • from 1926
    Freelance painter and draughtsman

  • 1929
    Joins the SPD. Member of the SPD until 1977

  • 1930
    Lecturer at the Städtisches Werklehrer-Seminar, Berlin

  • 1931 - 1933
    Deputy director of the Werklehrer-Seminar, Berlin

  • 1933
    Removed from office by the National Socialists. Banned from working as an artist

  • 1934
    Internal immigration in Kassel

  • 1945
    American prisoner of war. Returns to Kassel after release

  • from 1945
    Development of project plans for a major international art exhibition. Founding of the Society of Western Art of the 20th Century

  • 1948
    Re-establishment of the Kassel Art Academy, which had been closed in 1932

  • 1950 - 1955
    Work as an interior and furniture designer

  • 1955
    Artistic director of the first documenta in Kassel

  • 1959
    Artistic director of documenta 2, Kassel

  • 1964
    Artistic director of documenta 3, Kassel

  • 1968
    Artistic director of documenta 4, Kassel

Awards (selection):

  • 1974
    Awarded the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany

  • 2015
    Hessian Culture Prize for his work as Artistic Director of documenta 1-4 (posthumously)

Arnold Bode stands in front of a work by Jackson Pollock. He has one hand bent upwards and is holding documents in the other.
Arnold Bode in front of Jackson Pollock (1955)