Artists in the still-young Federal Republic of Germany were quick to adopt Pop art shortly after its emergence in Britain and America in the 1960s. In contrast to the often sensationalist and glamorous vocabulary of their Anglo-American peers, artists such as Thomas Bayrle, Christa Dichgans, Konrad Klapheck, Ferdinand Kriwet, Uwe Lausen, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter grappled with the banalities of everyday life in capitalist West Germany. German Pop reconstructs the four crucial centers of Pop art in Germany in the 1960s and early 1970s: Düsseldorf, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt am Main. The catalogue brings together nearly 140 works of art and documentary materials by artists both established and lesser known.
Featured image, "Zwei Kameraden" (1966) by Konrad Klapheck, is reproduced from German Pop.
Hermann Albert's "Frau 7" (1969) is reproduced from Schirn Kunsthalle's superb new exhibition catalog, German Pop, published by Walther König. Essayist Dietmar Rübel quotes a 1964 article by Gottfried Sello, which functioned as a confession in the form of a writing experiment. "You are sitting in an airplane; the stewardess (a heavenly Pop model, if taken apart and reassembled anew) puts the tray with the cup of coffee and the sandwich and the cream and whatever else on your knee, and halfway through your meal, when the cellophane is crumpled up and the coffee has spilled and the sugar has started to turn brown, you pause (I pause, you pause, we all pause): please don't move rien ne va plus—the Pop still life! Your desk, your trashcan, your coffeemaker, your shower, and the girl that slips into her panties: all Pop, nothing but Pop. Pop, we are surrounded by you." German Pop is one of Dan Nadel's picks for Best Books of 2015. continue to blog
Bettina von Arnim's "Close Cycle Man" (1969) is reproduced from German Pop, the catalogue to Schirn Kunsthalle's critically acclaimed exhibition, which closed this week in Frankfurt. Essayist Martina Weinhart writes, "American Pop comes across as cool, crisply fresh, aggressive, glamorous, self-confident, and unfailingly optimistic. British Pop is closer to traditional art. Like German Pop, it emerged against the backdrop of the destruction of the war and of the resulting social upheaval. This raises the question of what was specifically German about German Pop. The structural difference between European and American Pop Art, which is ultimately founded in cultural history, has often been pointed out: 'In essence, for Europe, for European intellectuals, consumer society is something that emerged when they were already mature.' For Americans, by contrast, consumer society was pure nature. 'Accordingly, the attitude of American artists toward such objects is absolutely different: they can love them and hate them at the same time.' Without a doubt, German Pop is part of a long art historical tradition that extends back even beyond the legacy of Dada. It is equally beyond doubt that it was in no way an epigonic mimicry of Uncle Sam." German Pop is one of Dan Nadel's picks for Best Books of 2015. continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 12 x 12 in. / 246 pgs / 240 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $75.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $99 ISBN: 9783863356484 PUBLISHER: Walther König, Köln AVAILABLE: 2/24/2015 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: NA LA ASIA AU/NZ AFR
Published by Walther König, Köln. Edited by Max Hollein, Martina Weinhart.
Artists in the still-young Federal Republic of Germany were quick to adopt Pop art shortly after its emergence in Britain and America in the 1960s. In contrast to the often sensationalist and glamorous vocabulary of their Anglo-American peers, artists such as Thomas Bayrle, Christa Dichgans, Konrad Klapheck, Ferdinand Kriwet, Uwe Lausen, Sigmar Polke and Gerhard Richter grappled with the banalities of everyday life in capitalist West Germany. German Pop reconstructs the four crucial centers of Pop art in Germany in the 1960s and early 1970s: Düsseldorf, Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt am Main. The catalogue brings together nearly 140 works of art and documentary materials by artists both established and lesser known.
