Käthe Kollwitz In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht (Gedenkblatt für Karl Liebknecht) state V/VI 1920

  • Not on view

Kollwitz created this image as a response to the brutal murder of Karl Liebknecht, a Communist leader who helped lead an armed revolt against the Socialist government in January 1919. He was assassinated by right-wing paramilitary units. Kollwitz's composition is based on traditional Christian lamentation scenes, thus placing Liebknecht in the role of martyr. The artist paid special attention to the dignity and pathos of Liebknecht’s working-class followers, who had put their hope and faith in him.

Gallery label from German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse, March 27–July 11, 2011.
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
composition: 13 3/4 x 19 5/8" (34.9 x 49.9 cm); sheet: 18 3/4 x 25 1/16" (47.7 x 63.7 cm)
Publisher
Emil Richter, Dresden
Printer
Fritz Voigt, Berlin
Edition
100 numbered, signed and hand-printed on Japan paper (state V) [this ex.]; plus 2 known proofs before the edition and 9 known state proofs (states I-IV); and an unknown machine-printed edition with band of text attached at bottom (state VI); plus 9 known proofs
Credit
The Philip and Lynn Straus Foundation Fund
Object number
615.1998
Copyright
© 2023 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
Department
Drawings and Prints

Installation views

We have identified these works in the following photos from our exhibition history.

How we identified these works

In 2018–19, MoMA collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a project using machine learning to identify artworks in installation photos. That project has concluded, and works are now being identified by MoMA staff.

If you notice an error, please contact us at [email protected].

Provenance Research Project

This work is included in the Provenance Research Project, which investigates the ownership history of works in MoMA's collection.

Sold through Phillips Auction, London, June 29, 1998 (lot 135) to Jörg Maaß Gallery, Berlin; sold to The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1998

Provenance research is a work in progress, and is frequently updated with new information. If you have any questions or information to provide about the listed works, please email [email protected] or write to:

Provenance Research Project
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53 Street
New York, NY 10019

Licensing

If you would like to reproduce an image of a work of art in MoMA’s collection, or an image of a MoMA publication or archival material (including installation views, checklists, and press releases), please contact Art Resource (publication in North America) or Scala Archives (publication in all other geographic locations).

MoMA licenses archival audio and select out of copyright film clips from our film collection. At this time, MoMA produced video cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. All requests to license archival audio or out of copyright film clips should be addressed to Scala Archives at [email protected]. Motion picture film stills cannot be licensed by MoMA/Scala. For access to motion picture film stills for research purposes, please contact the Film Study Center at [email protected]. For more information about film loans and our Circulating Film and Video Library, please visit https://www.moma.org/research/circulating-film.

If you would like to reproduce text from a MoMA publication, please email [email protected]. If you would like to publish text from MoMA’s archival materials, please fill out this permission form and send to [email protected].

Feedback

This record is a work in progress. If you have additional information or spotted an error, please send feedback to [email protected].