Modernism in Frankfurt 1919–1933. Neues Frankfurt

After World War I, Frankfurt developed into an archetype of the modern metropolis that attracted interest far beyond city limits. Many regard the Bauhaus as the cradle of modernity in the twentieth century. Yet that famous art and design school was not the sole hotspot of innovative design in Germany and Europe. By the end of the 1920s, Frankfurt am Main had established itself as a world-famous centre of the avant-garde on a par with the Bauhaus.

The aim of the exhibition Modernism in Frankfurt 1919–1933 is to show that Neues Frankfurt amounted to far more than just the housing programme initiated by Ernst May and the popular Frankfurt Kitchen by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky.

With more than 500 objects and designs, photographs and reproductions, drawings, paintings, films and sound recordings from more than forty private lenders, public archives and museum collections, the Museum Angewandte Kunst here tells the story of Neues Frankfurt in unprecedented breadth and depth. On 1,200 square metres of exhibition space, eight thematically-oriented sections paint a multifaceted picture of a new departure into modern design distinguished by an optimistic outlook and a cosmopolitan mindset. It introduces better and lesser known protagonists of modernism in Frankfurt, acquaints visitors with the creative networks of the metropolis on the Main and reveals the connections to and differences from the Bauhaus. And it brings home the realization that, if the Bauhaus was modernism’s academy, Neues Frankfurt was its workshop.

The Foundations of Neues Frankfurt

In the first section of the exhibition, visitors can acquaint themselves with the situation that prevailed in Frankfurt after World War I. Ludwig Landmann (1868–1945), head of the department of economic development from 1916 and city mayor from 1924 worked on the idea of a new international trade fair centre, and it was he who would later coin the term Neues Frankfurt. The reopening of the Messe Frankfurt in 1919 was thus a decisive factor on the city’s way to the modern age. Other important historical determinants were the founding of the Werkbund Haus and the activities of the exhibition producer Lilly Reich.

Experimentation and Research

Neues Frankfurt was also associated with far-reaching changes in art and the establishment of various new media, first and foremost film and sound. The section entitled “Experimentation and Research” introduces all the various players who spent important years in Frankfurt and, with their cross-genre experiments, advanced to become pioneers in the areas of the new media and music.

Teaching and Learning

Another participant in the endeavours to reshape society aesthetically and socially was the Frankfurt art school – an amalgamation of the arts and crafts school and the Städelschule –, which Fritz Wichert developed from 1924 onward as a teaching institution modelled on the Weimar Bauhaus. This Kunstschule comprised a two-semester introductory course, ten specialized classes and the respective workshops. It differed from the Bauhaus in that it had architecture on its curriculum from the start. The free and applied arts were to rank equally. Adolf Meyer, Josef Hartwig, Karl Peter Röhl and Christian Dell came to Frankfurt from the Weimar Bauhaus and worked for the modern teaching concept.

Designing the City

The protagonists of modernism in Frankfurt not only initiated innovations in housing construction, but also in the planning of green areas and the design of the public space. The city was to be structured and unified with a system of carefully designed recurring elements. The solutions developed in this context – from Ernst May’s large-scale spatial planning and Max Bromme’s green spaces to Leberecht Migge’s recoverable substance cycles, Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky’s allotment garden huts and Adolf Meyer’s drinking fountains – clearly reflect the democratic and solidary ideas behind the designs.

Ferdinand Kramer – who was entrusted with the interior design and furnishing of the Frankfurt housing estates and brought forth the furniture designs characteristic for Neues Frankfurt – also created a series of park benches and furnishings for the public space. The benches have unfortunately meanwhile disappeared from the urban landscape. For the show, one of them was reproduced according to Kramer’s plans and offers visitors a place to sit and rest. Over the course of the exhibition, two further park bench reproductions will be installed permanently in the Metzlerpark and on the riverbank.

Going into Production

In the section entitled “Going into Production”, visitors will discover numerous design objects that emerged from Neues Frankfurt, for the most part within the framework of cooperation between the members of the municipal administration and the flourishing regional private enterprises. Along with furniture by Ferdinand Kramer, Franz Schuster and others, the exhibits also include several lamps by Christian Dell and Adolf Meyer, the Fuld company’s Frankfurt telephone and the car radiator of the Adler Standard 8 after designs by Walter Gropius and his Berlin office.

Publicizing Modernism

This section of the exhibition features photographs, objects, posters and facsimiles as a way of acquainting visitors with a selection of major events that served to bring politics and the public together in the democratically governed metropolis. They provide information about which public themes and interests were under negotiation and how Frankfurt’s unprecedented modernization effort was expedited and managed. Another focus here is photography, with introductions to the most important players active in this medium in Frankfurt and responsible for communicating modernism to the public as an interdisciplinary project.

Prologue and Epilogue

Before visitors enter the exhibition proper, they can immerse themselves in the world of Neues Frankfurt by virtual means. A VR installation offers a detailed introduction to nearly all of the many people who contributed to modernism in Frankfurt. The network of persons of widely differing professions who communicated and worked with one another to that end – an aspect impossible to represent two-dimensionally – can be palpably experienced here.

The exhibition comes to a close with an epilogue presenting selected objects and a further multimedia installation. A library of 360° panoramas of extant Frankfurt Kitchens by the photographer Laura J Gerlach shows what is presumably the most famous invention of Neues Frankfurt in the context of its present-day settings: private flats, offices and museums.

The exhibition features works by the following architects, graphic designers, designers and artists.-

Philipp Albinus (1884–1957), Nadine Auth (*1988), Willi Baumeister (1889–1955), Ella Bergmann-Michel (1895–1971), Ilse Bing (1899–1990, Max Bittrof (1890–1972), Anton Brenner (1896–1957), Max Bromme (1878–1974), Johannes Cissarz (1873–1942), Hermann Collischonn (1865–1945), Franz Delavilla (1884–1967), Christan Dell (1893–1974), Walter Dexel (1890–1973), Martin Elsaesser (1884–1957), Werner Epstein (1903–1987), Hans Flesch (1896–1945), Oskar Fischinger (1900-1967), Gisèle Freund (1908–2000), Laura J Gerlach (*1980), Albert Fuß (1889–1969), Walter Gropius (1883–1969), Erika Habermann (1903–1993), Josef Hartwig (1880–1955), Elisabeth Hase (1905–1991), Ninni Hess (1882-1942), Carry Hess (1889–1957), Lucy Hillebrand (1906–1997), Paul Hindemith (1895–1963), Marta Hoepffner (1912–2000), Margarethe Klimt (1892–1987), Rudolf Koch (1876–1934), Ferdinand Kramer (1898–1985), Grete Leistikow (1893–1989), Hans Leistikow (1892–1962), Richard Lisker (1884–1955), Ernst May (1886–1970), Olav Metzel (*1952), Adolf Meyer (1881 –1929), Robert Michel (1897–1983), Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), Leberecht Migge (1881–1935), Liselotte Müller (1906–1990), László Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946), Peter Rasmussen (1897–1935), Lilly Reich (1885–1947), Paul Renner (1878–1956), Karl Röhl (1890–1975), Richard Schadwell (Daten unbekannt), Caspar Schirdewahn (1988), Ernst Schoen (1894–1960), Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897–2000), Franz Schuster (1892–1972), Kurt Schwitters (1887-1948), tatcraft (Tim Fleischer und Fabian Winopal), Joachim Warnecke (1900–1988), Fritz Wichert (1878–1951), Albert Windisch (1878–1967), Paul Wolff (1887–1951).