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Germanic Collections

Collections on Recent and Contemporary German Culture and Politics: Cultural History of the GDR

Dokumentationsbibliothek DDR Kunst

Introduction and Tips by Dr. L. R. Whitmore

Renovation of the Neues Museum Berlin March 1989 Photo Credit: Lisa Whitmore

The Dokumentationsbibliothek DDR Kunst was put together by the Jürgen Holstein Antiquariat GmbH. Mr. Holstein's goal was to produce a collection of books that would document all significant art exhibitions in the GDR from 1945 to 1990. Following the political changes in 1989, Mr. Holstein spent over two years consulting with artists, art historians, journalists, former functionaries, publishers, dealers, and collectors. He worked against the clock, as much of this material was being discarded and destroyed during the transitional period following unification. In the end, Mr. Holstein and his team succeeded in compiling approximately 1300 books and 100 pamphlets that originated exclusively in the GDR. Stanford purchased the collection during the final days of 1994, and it has been ready for use since August 1995.

The collection provides especially useful material for studying the constant tension in GDR aesthetics between tradition and innovation. The irony of Soviet-bloc cultural policy was that classicism and realism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries came to be viewed as "revolutionary" while the leftist avant-garde of the twentieth century was denounced as "bourgeois-decadent." This was ideologically grounded in the historical connection of classicism and realism to the emancipation of the middle class. The avant-garde, in turn, was associated with the end of middle-class vitality rather than with the beginning of a proletarian culture. Thus, the traditional (= revolutionary) was often encouraged over innovation (= decadence). Such a tradition-based aesthetic stands in stark contrast to the western aesthetic, in which art is often measured ad absurdum on the criterion of originality. The theoretical books in the collection provide a subtle range of positions, though the dominant concern is the development of a socialist aesthetic. All the well-known "socialist realist" artists are represented, but the collection also documents the less frequent exhibitions of avant-garde works by artists such as John Heartfield.

The Dokumentationsbibliothek DDR Kunst touches on underground artists but represents them minimally. For example, A.R. Penck's work is not documented by this particular collection at all. However, information about various underground and alternative artists from the GDR can be found in the Stanford Library collection on the book-arts scene of the 1980s in East Germany.

An aspect that might be surprising to some is the number of books of caricature, which poke fun at political scenarios such as a commander in chief with many telephones on his desk or a president with a bust of himself in his office. The annual Karigraphie series sponsored by the "Caricature Division of the Union of Artists and the Union of Journalists" [Sektion der Karikaturisten und Pressezeichner im VBK und VDJ] was an arena in which the GDR felt safe enough to make fun of itself.

Notes on the Bibliographic Listings

The collection is divided by medium so that there are separate lists for sculpture, photography, and architecture. The list labeled "artists" is primarily a list of painters, and the list labeled "exhibitions" covers the group shows by these painters.

Monographs on an artist written by another person are listed both in the artist section under the artist's name and in the monographs section under the author's name. Since the lists are divided by medium, artists working in multiple media appear in more than one list.

Most of the lists are arranged by author, followed by those titles for which no author is given. However, some lists demanded a slightly different order. The following outline provides an overview.

• Applied Arts and Crafts - arranged by artist and then by title where no author is given
• Monographs and General Information - arranged by author and then by title where no author is given
• Architecture - arranged by author and then by title where no author is given
• Film - arranged by artist or author and then by title where no artist/author is given
• Photography - arranged by artist or author and then by title where no artist/author is given
• Posters - arranged by artist or author and then by title where no artist/author is given
• Painters
  • Small Catalogs - solo shows arranged by artist; group shows arranged by city
  • Artists - arranged by artist
  • Exhibitions
    • arranged by title
    • also presented as a time line
• Sculpture - divided into three further categories
  • Solo Shows and Monographs - arranged by artist
  • Group Shows - arranged by author and then by title where no author is given
  • General Information - arranged by author and then by title where no author is given
• Book Arts - arranged by city
• Socialist Aesthetic Theory in the GDR
  • arranged by author or responsible institution (corporate author)
  • also presented as a time line

Exhibition catalogs are listed in two different formats. They appear in alphabetical order by title and also as a time line in which they are arranged by date and city. The first list groups regularly occurring exhibitions together. For example, one can see which catalogs are included from the Allgemeine Deutsche Kunstausstellung. In order for the associated entries to appear together, the titles have been standardized. Regional exhibitions begin with Bezirksausstellung and then the city. By contrast, titles in the time line are listed exactly as they appear on the catalog cover.

The book-arts section is divided by city because most of the entries center on a publisher or other institution that was based in a single city, such as the International Book Exhibition in Leipzig.

Finally, all webpages can be searched using using the "find-on-this-page" command (Ctrl + F) of the browser. One can search by artist's last name, date, artistic medium, a line from a slogan, a particular gallery, an institution, or any other text that might appear on the page.

Links

The external links in these pages, which all existed during the summer of 1999, are very diverse. Many give information about current and recent exhibitions. Some provide biographical information. Some include images of an artist's work. Several list old and new books on related topics that are available for purchase from various vendors. We hope that the links provide useful information. If nothing else, however, it is interesting to measure the web-presence of the numerous artists and galleries.

The Story of the Traffic-Light Figures 

These traffic-light figures, called "Ampelmännchen," were designed by traffic psychologist Karl Peglau in the early nineteen sixties. They are currently in use but may be replaced by standard West German traffic lights. There is a campaign waging to "save the Ampelmännchen." The issues suggests the relevance of research in GDR art and design for bridging the gap between East and West.

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Last modified: June 27, 2005