MONOCULTURE | A Recent History

By the time of its second edition, documenta had become a brand with ambitions to stage the international exhibition of contemporary art quadriennally (and later every five years). While Arnold Bode, with his background in trade fairs, was mainly in charge of the scenography of the exhibition, the concept and slogan ‘abstraction as a world language’ of the second edition was a brainchild of Werner Haftmann. At that time, a leading German art historian and ideologist of abstract art, he was actively involved in the preparation of several editions of documenta. Published as a direct outcome of this involvement, his major treatise – Malereiim 20. Jahrhundert/Painting in the Twentieth Century (1954), became a guidebook on modern art for a generation of art historians. Aiming to present art since 1945, documenta II further emphasised a focus on painting and abstract art, displaying abstract artworks form the United States. It included the abstract expressionist paintings exhibited in the New American Painting exhibitions organised by MoMA, and presented in eight European countries between 1958 and ‘59. Documenta II can be regarded as a striking example of the production of the history of Modern art, as well as its Americanisation during the Cold War era. Yet, documenta II is often considered as a major step in the creation of a common post-war European cultural identity based on abstract art. This identity, resonating with the idea of the free West, was further joined in by other European institutions. For instance, an exhibition with works from documenta II (Værker fra documenta, 1959) was presented at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.