Arnold Bode

Arnold Bode was only 17 years old when he was called up to service in 1918 shortly before the end of World War I. From 1919-24, he studied painting and graphic arts at the Art Academy in Kassel and graduated with the state examination as a drawing teacher. The following year he made a study trip to Paris. From 1928-33, Bode worked in Berlin as a painter and teacher at the Städtisches Werklehrer-Seminar (Municipal Seminar for Manual Training).

Bode had to leave the city, however, when he was banned from working by the Nazis because of his membership in the social democratic SPD and was considered “degenerate” after 1936. After returning to his hometown Kassel, where he worked in his brother Paul’s (1903-1978) architectural firm, he was called up for military service again and assigned to building soldiers’ quarters. After World War II, he became chairman of the Hessian Secession and re-founder of the Kassel Academy.

Bode launched the first documenta exhibition in 1955 parallel to the Federal Garden Show. The exhibition was a great success showing a broad overview of 20th century art. He managed the exhibition three more times until documenta 4. With documenta, he created one of the most important cultural institutions in the world, which continues without interruption to this day. In 1974, after receiving numerous awards for services to contemporary art, he received the Federal Cross of Merit.

In addition, Bode painted, drew and worked as an art teacher. Almost his complete early artistic work burned in his apartment in 1944 during a bombing raid. While helping to popularize abstract art with the documenta, Bode himself painted in the style of lyrical realism. His main subject in painting and graphic art was the landscape. Especially in the 1950s, he also designed furniture and exhibition stands. On his 100th birthday in 2000, he was honored with a postage stamp. Bode’s daughter Renée Nele (*1932) became a well-known sculptor.

Bode’s painting Divers, exhibited in 1952, bears the comment “Lacquer Paint, 1951” in the Official Report.