The göppinger galerie in Frankfurt - Narratives

The göppinger galerie in Frankfurt existed for nine years and in these few years showed a kaleidoscope of exhibitions on visual and applied arts, music, theatre, photography, design and many other subjects.

The main driving force behind this undertaking was Arnold Bode. He put many of his ideas, which he was unable to realize in Kassel as part of the documenta, into practice at the gallery in Frankfurt, including an exhibition on the Bauhaus.

The göppinger galerie — gg for short — was founded in the spring of 1956 by the owner of Göppinger Kaliko- und Kunstleder-Werke GmbH, Dr. Herbert Müller. It was located in an office block built in the same year at Berliner Straße 27 in Frankfurt am Main. Kaliko-Werke was one of the most important sponsors of the first documenta in 1955. The company donated the plastic foils known as «göppinger plastics» which Arnold Bode used generously as wall and window hangings and room dividers.

The 300 square meters of exhibition space at gg were originally intended for the presentation of both, the Kaliko-Werke product range and that of other companies.

more about the Göppinger Kaliko- und Kunstleder-Werke GmbH
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more about the documenta 1
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more about Arnold Bode
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Excerpts from the booklet accompanying the closing exhibition "gg - 1956-1964, Face of a Gallery" from 31.07.-10.08.1965 at the Karmeliterkloster in Frankfurt am Main

But only the first two exhibitions served this purpose. When the financial burden for the Göppingen-based company became too great after a while, an exhibition company was founded with the participation of three other financiers (Auto Union AG, Deutsche Olivetti AG, and Adolf and Luisa Haeuser-Stiftung in Frankfurt am Main). Until the fall of 1964 a total of 33 exhibitions were shown, with Arnold Bode curating 28 and thus the lion’s share. Under the four categories of New Art, Old Art, Photography and Design, he and his respective exhibition partners opened up a whole range of themes from all areas of the visual and applied arts, as well as music and theater, and made gg nationally and internationally known.

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Idee – Form – Zweck – Zeit“, 1964
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Teo Otto“, 1960
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Thorlichen fotografiert Argentinien“, 1958
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Fritz Winter“, 1959
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Otto Steinert und Schüler“, 1962
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Masken“, 1960
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „6 Jahrtausende Geräte, Gefäße“, 1961
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Australische Urkunst“, 1959
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Malerei – Plastik – Grafik, Stipendiaten des Kulturkreises im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. stellen aus“, 1958
© documenta archiv

Cover of the booklet accompanying the exhibition „Kinderzeichnungen“, 1956
© documenta archiv

In the last year of gg, Bode organized a large overview exhibition on the Bauhaus entitled «Idea – Form – Zweck – Zeit» (Idea – Form – Purpose – Time). Bode was able to realize what he had always been unable to do for financial and organizational reasons in the documenta exhibitions he directed: to present a broad spectrum of arts to the public.
In designing the gg exhibitions, Bode applied the basic pattern of dark or light surfaces made of different materials developed for the first documenta, contrasted and contoured by linear constructions of metal or wood in contrasting colors and accentuated by indirect lighting in ever new variations.

more about the Bauhaus Dessau
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View of the exhibition „Malerei – Plastik – Grafik, Stipendiaten des Kulturkreises im Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie e.V. stellen aus“, 1958
© documenta archiv / photographer unknown

Thus, he gave the exhibits a framework, a «second order», as he called it, through which, he believed, they could only really come into their own.

In the booklet accompanying the final exhibition, Bode wrote that the gg had been a «kind of experimental stage» for him, not least for the design of documenta 2 and 3, and summed it up further:

more about the documenta 2
Index: Organizations

more about the documenta 3
Index: Organizations

»
Some visitors will remember that they were confronted here with unexpected aspects of our lives and that the theme and the discussion had a lasting effect on them. So, it may well be justified to speak of the gg as a cultural meeting place, of an audible voice in Frankfurt's cultural life and beyond. It was a contact point for like-minded people and, in fruitful conversation in front of vivid objects, a mediator of deeper insight.
«

Source

gg 1956-1964 Gesicht einer Galerie, exhibition in the Karmeliterkloster in Frankfurt am Main, July 31 – August 10, publication accompanying the exhibition, 1965, no page reference

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