Arnold Bode (23 December 1900 – 3 October 1977) was a German architect, painter, designer and curator. Arnold was born in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

, Germany. From 1928 to 1933, he worked as a painter and university lecturer in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. However, when the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

s came to power they banned him from his profession. He returned to his home town of Kassel following the war. Bode organized the first ''

documenta Documenta (often stylized documenta) is an Art exhibition, exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. Documenta was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgarte ...

'' exhibition in Kassel in 1955. This featured a broad overview of 20th-century art using large spaces in an innovative way. It was an unprecedented success. Frieze Magazine claims: 'documenta's singularity becomes clear in comparison with the

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

, which began in 1895 and inspired the Bienal de São Paulo in 1951 before spawning endless copies across the globe in the 1990s. After the first national pavilion was built in 1907 by Belgium in the Giardini, the Biennale became a battleground between countries, their artists and their pavilions: an Olympics of art. By contrast, documenta's internationalism remains rooted in the failures of nationalism: the defeat and material hardship wrought by National Socialism and the repressed shame surrounding the Holocaust.' Bode organized three more ''documenta'' exhibitions, finishing with ''documenta 4''. Others have since continued to produce regular ''documenta'' exhibitions in Kassel. Bode received the German

Federal Cross of Merit The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

in 1974. Bode's daughter is Renee Nele.

References

Arnold Bode
''documenta'' archives German art curators Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 20th-century German painters 20th-century German male artists German male painters 1900 births 1977 deaths Architects from Kassel Artists from Kassel Painters from Hesse {{Germany-artist-stub

See also

References