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Bode, Arnold Atelier
born 1900 in Kassel, died 1977
Hessische Sezession
poster of the exhibition Kunst der Gegenwart
Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel
1946 ( september 30 - november 10 )
colour lithograph / letterpress printing
42 cm x 29 cm
printer: Hessische Nachrichten
was folded, signed text by typewriter on the back
slight traces of age
order no. 14517
Together with other artists Arnold Bode founded the Hessian Secession group, which existed from 1946 to 1949. The small exhibition catalogue tells us that the group’s foundation and agenda were approved by the "Office of Military Government for Greater Hesse Economics Division". The bilingual catalogue features the same motif as the poster. Regarding the motif: Arnold Bode used this image to portray
himself and his Hessian Secession group as a "phoenix, the mythical figure that rises time and again from the ashes. He sketched a phoenix that seems to have just emerged from the flames, with heavy wings and bearing an olive branch in its beak, as an emblem for the catalogue title of the group’s opening exhibition and even had it printed in two colours".
On the back of the offered poster there is a typewritten text dated 30 September 1946, the first day of the exhibition. Featuring a monogram, the text discusses the “use of abstract forms in the visual arts” and assesses the relationship with “art in its most original sense”. In retrospect, this exhibition is a kind of precursor to documenta. Regarding the poster designs, it can be observed that Bode’s early poster from 1946 focuses on a mythical creature, the phoenix, whereas the first poster for documenta 1955 is dominated by the text.
Lit.:
Hessische Sezession, Ausstellung Kunst der Gegenwart, Kat. Hessisches Landesmuseum Kassel 1946
Panzer, Gerhard: Wie der Phönix fliegen lernte: Beziehungen aus der Asche. Beziehungsanalysen der Kasseler Künstlergruppe "Hessische Sezession" (1946-1949). In: Beziehungsanalysen. Bildende Künste in Westdeutschland nach 1945, hg. von Gerhard Panzer, Franziska Völz, Karl-Siegbert Rehberg, Wiesbaden 2015, S.61-88
See also our catalogue 'From Arp to Pollock': Art and exhibition posters in France and Germany 1945-1960, Köln 2016, p. 96 f.
Südgalerien e.V. (ed.): Arnold Bode Unframed. The Painting and Graphic Work of the documenta Founder. Catalogue Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel - Neue Galerie 2022, p.57 and p.188
