THE COLLECTION
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945)
The Last Thing (Das Letzte)
- Date:
- (1924)
- Medium:
- Woodcut
- Dimensions:
- composition (irreg.): 11 9/16 x 5 1/16" (29.4 x 12.8 cm); sheet (irreg.): 13 15/16 x 9 3/4" (35.4 x 24.8 cm)
- Paper:
- Beige, smooth, wove Japan.
- Publisher:
- Altershilfe des Deutschen Volkes, Berlin
- Printer:
- probably Fritz Voigt, Berlin
- Edition:
- 225 (including a deluxe edition of 25, signed but not numbered, on Japan paper and a regular edition of 200, signed and numbered, on Japan and copperplate printing paper); plus 5 known state proofs (states I-II)
- Credit Line:
- Gift of Edward M. M. Warburg
- Copyright:
- © 2016 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn
- Reference:
- Wagner 182. Klipstein 205. Knesebeck 210 III b.
- MoMA Number:
- 152.1934
- Themes:
- Death, Postwar Politics
- Techniques:
- Woodcut
German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse
March 27–July 11, 2011
This woodcut is a grim testament to the hopelessness felt by the many elderly Germans whose lives had been destroyed by the hyperinflation of 1923–24, which eradicated their savings and made their pensions worthless. Kollwitz donated the sales proceeds to a social aid organization for the old.