Käthe Kollwitz

Käthe Kollwitz, Self Portrait, 1934

Käthe Kollwitz was born on July 8th 1867 in Konigsberg, East Prussia. Her work falls in the Expressionism category. "Among the work of women associated with Expressionism, that of Paula Modersohn-Becker and Käthe Kollwitz most clearly reveals the clash between Modernist ideology and social reality" (Chadwick, 286). The art medium she chose was prints and sculptures that confronted social injustice and suffering. 

She studied art in Berlin, Germany and began making her prints in 1880. In 1881 she married Dr. Karl Kollwitz and had two sons, Hans and Peter. From 1898 to 1903 she was a teacher at the Berlin School of Women Artists. "Kollwitz, the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1919, and the foremost graphic artist of the first half of the twentieth century, was encouraged to draw as a child by her father" (Chadwick, 290). 

Käthe Kollwitz, "Attack," The Weavers' Revolt 1895-97

Her first major work that was recognized and gave her success was The Weavers' Revolt. Her prints for this work were based on Gerhart Hauptmann's play, The Weavers, which was about the revolt of the Silesian weavers in 1844. "As a success of The Weaver's Revolt (which proved so politically effective when exhibited in 1898 that the Kaiser refused to award Kollwitz the gold medal she had won), Kollwitz was appointed to teach graphics and nude studies at the Berlin Kunstlerinnenschule" (Chadwick, 291). 

"I beg you, gentlemen, a medal for a woman, that would really be going too far...Orders and medals of honor belong on the breasts of worthy men!" - Kaiser Wilhelm II when Käthe Kollwitz was chosen for an important award in 1898. (The Guerrilla Girls, 71).

Käthe Kollwitz, The Grieving Parents, 1932

Käthe Kollwitz,"March of the Weavers," The Weavers' Revolt 1895-97

In 1914 her son Peter was killed during WWI in Flanders. Her life was filled with grief which affected and was portrayed in her prints.The subject matter in her prints is predominantly about war, sorrow, death and poverty. Her life tragedies and struggles were depicted in her work. "A socialist, a feminist (founder of the Women's Art Union [Frauen Kunstverband] in Berlin in 1913), and pacifist, the themes of war, hatred, poverty, love, grief, death, and struggle dominate her mature work" (Chadwick, 290). 

Käthe Kollwitz, Uprising, 1899

In 1933 Hitler came to power, and in 1936 Käthe was prohibited from exhibiting work. Her works were removed from museums and galleries during the same time. Her last major works of art were eight litographs titled Death which were made from 1934-1935. The significance of her work during this time is tremendous because her work could be directly related to what was happening in Germany during that period of time. Back then, people who saw her work could relate to their every day life and situations that were going on around them. The historical significance is huge as well because through her work we can see what was going on during that time in prints, as if we could relive that period of time by just looking at her prints. 

She has a lasting influence on today's artists, especially women, because even though she faced so many difficulties, she still managed to be a great woman artist. She managed to be recognized during a time when not only women were discriminated, but also during two World Wars, the death of her son Peter, and the other dozen hardships she went through in her life time.

Käthe Kollwitz, Death, 1934-35

Woman Entrusts Herself to Death

Death with Girl on Lap 

Death Reaches for a Group of Children

Death Seizes a Woman

Death on the Highway

Death as a Friend

Death in the Water

The Call of  Death

Works Cited

The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin, 1998. Print.

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th ed. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1990. Print.

"Käthe-Kollwitz-Biography." Käthe-Kollwitz-Biographical Data. Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2015. <http://www.kaethe-kollwitz.de/lebensdaten-en.htm>.

"Käthe Kollwitz." Käthe Kollwitz. National Museum of Women in the Arts, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2015. <http://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/k%C3%A4-kollwitz>.

"Kathe Kollwitz - Biography." Kathe Kollwitz - Biography. RO Gallery, n.d. Web. 03 Apr. 2015. <http://rogallery.com/Kollwitz/Kollwitz-bio.htm>.