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Email to FriendKäthe Kollwitz, Lithograph, Tod (Death), c. 1893-1897  |
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| Artist: | Kollwitz, Käthe (1867 - 1945) |
|---|---|
| Title: | Tod (Death), c. 1893-1897 |
| Medium: | Original Lithograph |
| Image Size: | 8 3/4 in x 7 1/4 in (22.3 cm x 18.5 cm) |
| Framed Size: | 29 1/8 in x 27 3/8 in (74 cm x 70 cm) |
| Edition: | According to Knesebeck, this work is a State B impression, from the editions by von der Becke as of 1931, printed in brown-black on copperplate paper with the von der Becke blindstamp in the lower right. |
| Condition: | This work is in excellent condition |
| Gallery Price: Item# 3208 | Sorry, this item is sold. Please visit the rest of our Kollwitz fine art collection |
| Historical Description: | |
|---|---|
| Known for her visceral interpretations of the suffering of the working class,
Kathe Kollwitz impresses upon her viewer the extreme poverty experienced by
the lower classes of turn of the century Europe. Listed as one of her most effective
works, Death offers a disturbing image of death embracing a child. Her parents
are depicted already in a state of despondent morning. Through her rendering
of the figures faces, Kollwitz effectively captures the extreme psychological
torment of the parents. Furthermore, the child's large vacant eyes represent
an eerie sense of fear of the unknown. As if we are witnessing the moment of
death. The image is further unified by an atmospheric quality which conveys
a sense of stagnation and utter despair.
This lithograph was one of six lithographs and etchings included in the series inspired by Gerhart Hauptmann's, 1893, play entitled the The Weavers. According to Knesebeck, this work is a State B impression, from the editions by von der Becke as of 1931, printed in brown-black on copperplate paper with the von der Becke blindstamp in the lower right of the image. Documented and Illustrated in: About the Framing: | |
| Style: | Expressionism, 20th Century German Modern Expressionist |
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Biography of Käthe Kollwitz
Käthe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945)
One of the most influential and famous German printmakers of the twentieth century, Käthe Kollwitz starkly depicted the plight of the poor and denounced the atrocities of war. Working at a time when many artists used their art to investigate formal problems, Kollwitz devoted herself to describing the human condition. She declined the use of color, letting her vigorously clear and articulate line express urgency and social purpose, and her simplification of form and the absence of extraneous detail contribute to the power of her work.
Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz was born to a large family in East Prussia which valued freedom, mutual respect, social activism, and spiritual dedication. Kollwitz recalled that "from my childhood on, my father had expressly wished me to be trained for a career as an artist, and he was sure there would be no great obstacles to my becoming one."(1)
She began formal training at age fourteen under the engraver Rudolf Mauer, and, at seventeen she moved to Berlin where she enrolled in the School for Women Artists. While a student in Berlin, Kollwitz's teacher encouraged her to seek out the work of Max Klinger. She went to see Klinger's series of etchings A Life at an exhibit which "excited me tremendously."(2) Captivated by Klinger's work and deeply influenced by the writings of Émile Zola, Kollwitz turned to etching and lithography to depict social issues. Her marriage in 1891 to physician Karl Kollwitz, and his medical practice in a poor, working class section of Berlin further exposed her to a wide range of suffering and tragedy which would become the subject of her work over the next fifty years.
1. Hans Kollwitz, ed. The Diary and Letters of Kaethe Kollwitz (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1988), 37.
2. Kollwitz, The Diary, 39.
