Käthe Kollwitz

Born in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) in 1867, Käthe Kollwitz established herself in an art world dominated by men by developing an aesthetic vision centered on women and the working class. Her representations of women, including her frequent self-portraits, effectively communicated her subjects’ predicaments during a period when women were still negotiating ways to represent themselves in the arts. While her naturalistic style appeared out of touch in an era that witnessed the birth of abstraction, her depictions of universal human experiences, given depth and emotional power through her dense networks of lines and light and dark contrasts, were also reflective of her time. The loss of her son during World War I, for instance, led to a lifelong exploration of the subject of mourning. She also found many of her motifs in her husband’s medical clinic for workers and people in need, where she also kept her studio.
Initially trained as a painter, Kollwitz began to focus on the graphic arts after she encountered the work and writings of fellow artist Max Klinger, who defended the exacting art of drawing over the free form of painting. After 1890, she gave up painting in favor of etching and sculpture, and later turned to lithography and woodcuts. Moving from one technique to another, she increasingly simplified her visual language over time, but never at the expense of legibility. The detailed quality of drawing matched her concerns with depicting the stark reality of war and its victims. In a woodcut titled The Widow II (Die Witwe II), from her 1921–22 print cycle War, Kollwitz depicts the body of a distressed mother lying flat on the ground. The mother holds her limp child, and both appear as if they are dead. The ease of distribution and accessibility of prints such as these appealed to the artist’s sense of advocacy.
Kollwitz’s compassion for those in need has bestowed on her continued international renown. Today, her name evokes images of bereaved mothers, ailing, fatherless children, anguished parents, and, more generally, suffering and death. However, her reputation, while largely defined by its socially critical subject matter, also rests on her artistic talent and drive for experimentation in a wide range of mediums. Kollwitz often mixed various printing techniques to achieve a desired image. Even though the majority of her prints are black-and-white, a significant number of them reveal an interest in color that reflects her beginnings, when she was studying to be a painter.
Introduction by Luise Mahler, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting and Sculpture, 2016
- Introduction
- Käthe Kollwitz, née Schmidt (German pronunciation: [kɛːtə kɔlvɪt͡s]; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945), was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class. Despite the realism of her early works, her art is now more closely associated with Expressionism. Kollwitz was the first woman to not only be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but to also receive honorary professor status.
- Wikidata
- Q142472
- Introduction
- German artist. Comment on works: graphic artist; etcher
- Nationality
- German
- Gender
- Female
- Roles
- Artist, Painter, Sculptor
- Names
- Käthe Kollwitz, Käthe Schmidt, Kathe Schmidt, Kathe nee Schmidt Kollwitz, Käthe née Schmidt, Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz, Kʻo-le-hui-chih, Kėte Kolʹvit︠s︡, Kaethe Kollwitz, 柯勒惠支克特, Kathe Kollwitz, k. kollwitz, Kollwitz Kathe
- Ulan
- 500016751
Exhibitions
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Designing Modern Women 1890–1990
Oct 5, 2013–Oct 19, 2014
MoMA
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New to the Print Collection: Matisse to Bourgeois
Jun 13, 2012–Jan 7, 2013
MoMA
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German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
Mar 27–Jul 11, 2011
MoMA
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Artists & Prints: Masterworks from The Museum of Modern Art, Part 2
Apr 13–Jul 4, 2005
MoMA
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Modern Means: Continuity and Change in Art, 1880 to Now
Apr 28–Aug 1, 2004
MoMA
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Käthe Kollwitz has
40 exhibitionsonline.
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Käthe Kollwitz March of the Weavers (Weberzug) 1893–97, published c. 1931
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Käthe Kollwitz Woman with Dead Child (Frau mit totem Kind) 1903
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Käthe Kollwitz For Greater Berlin (Für Gross Berlin) 1912
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Various Artists, Walther Klemm, Ernst Barlach, Erich Heckel, Max Liebermann, August Gaul, Willy Jaeckel, Josef Bato, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Heinrich Zille, Oskar Kokoschka, Käthe Kollwitz, Otto Mueller, Max Slevogt, Ottomar Starke, Wilhelm Wagner, Leopold von Kalckreuth, Rudolf Grossmann Der Bildermann, vol. 1, nos. 1-18 April 1916-December 1916
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Käthe Kollwitz Mother with a Child in her Arms (Mutter mit Kind auf dem Arm) (plate, folio 5) from the periodicial Der Bildermann, vol. 1, no. 2 (Apr 1916) 1916
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Käthe Kollwitz Vienna Is Dying! Save Its Children! (Wien stirbt! Rettet seine Kinder!) 1920
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Various Artists, Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, René Beeh, Heinrich Campendonk, Karl Caspar, Lovis Corinth, Lyonel Feininger, Conrad Felixmüller, August Gaul, Rudolf Grossmann, George Grosz, Erich Heckel, Paul Klee, Käthe Kollwitz, Alfred Kubin, Max Liebermann, Ludwig Meidner, Otto Mueller, Max Pechstein, Adolf Ferdinand Schinnerer, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Richard Seewald, Max Unold Deutsche Graphiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time) 1920
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Käthe Kollwitz Small Self-Portrait (Kleines Selbstbildnis) (plate 3) from Deutsche Graphiker der Gegenwart (German Printmakers of Our Time) 1920
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Käthe Kollwitz In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht (Gedenkblatt für Karl Liebknecht) 1920
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Käthe Kollwitz Frontal Crouching Woman with Crossed Hands (Hockende Frau von vorne mit übereinander gelegten Händen) from the portfolio Seventeen Lithographs (Siebzehn Steinzeichnungen) 1921
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Käthe Kollwitz Help Russia (Helft Russland) 1921
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Käthe Kollwitz War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Sacrifice (Das Opfer) from War (Krieg) 1922, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Volunteers (Die Freiwilligen) from War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Parents (Die Eltern) from War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Widow I (Die Witwe I) from War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Widow II (Die Witwe II) from War (Krieg) 1922, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Mothers (Die Mütter) from War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The People (Das Volk) from War (Krieg) 1922, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz The Widow I (Die Witwe 1) (front cover) from War (Krieg) 1921–22, published 1923
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Käthe Kollwitz Frontal Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis von vorn) 1922–23
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Käthe Kollwitz The Last Thing (Das Letzte) 1924
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Käthe Kollwitz Child's Head (Kinderkopf) 1925
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Käthe Kollwitz Worker Woman with Sleeping Child (Arbeiterfrau mit schlafendem Jungen) 1927
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Käthe Kollwitz The Homecoming (Die Heimkehr) [Poster for the Groß Berliner Arbeitsgemeinschaft für alkoholfreie Jugenderziehung (Working Committee of Greater Berlin for the Alcohol-Free Upbringing of Youth)] c. 1927
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Käthe Kollwitz Two Chatting Women with Two Children (Zwei schwatzende Frauen mit zwei Kindern) 1930
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Käthe Kollwitz Death, Woman, and Child (Tod, Frau und Kind) 1910, printed c. 1931 or after
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Käthe Kollwitz Woman Entrusts Herself to Death (Frau vertraut sich dem Tode an) from the series Death (Tod) 1934
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Käthe Kollwitz Young Girl in the Lap of Death (Tod hält Mädchen im Schoß) from the series Death (Tod) 1934
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Käthe Kollwitz Death Grabbing at a Group of Children (Tod greift in eine Kinderschar) from the series Death (Tod) 1934
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Käthe Kollwitz Death Seizes a Woman (Tod packt eine Frau) from the series Death (Tod) 1934
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Käthe Kollwitz Self-Portrait (Selbstbildnis) 1934
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Käthe Kollwitz Call of Death (Ruf des Todes) from the series Death (Tod) c. 1937
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Käthe Kollwitz Self-Portrait in Profile Toward Right (Selbstbildnis im Profil nach rechts) c. 1938, published 1947
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Käthe Kollwitz Ask the Women and Children Whom Hitler is Starving Whether Rationing Is Too Great a "Sacrifice" 1942
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Käthe Kollwitz Self-Portrait, Hand at the Forehead (Selbstbildnis mit der Hand an der Stirn) 1910, published c. 1946/1948
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