Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)

1
Kathe Kollwitz(1867-1945)

• Gigi
• 7th Hour
• Art History

2
Time Period

• Weimar Period The period of German history from
  1919 to 1933 is known as the Weimar Republic. It
  is named after the city of Weimar, where a
  national assembly convened to produce a new
  constitution after the German monarchy was
  abolished following the nation's defeat in World
  War I. This first attempt at establishing a
  liberal democracy in Germany was a time of great
  tension and inner conflict and, ultimately,
  failed with the ascent of Adolf Hitler and the
  Nazi Party in 1933
• World War 1 The background to the long term
  causes of World War One can be traced back to the
  end of the C19th. Alliances, broken alliances and
  German naval expansion all caused much friction
  in Europe with two camps developing - both of
  which distrusted the other. The immediate spark
  of World War One may well have been the murder at
  Sarajevo but suspicion and mistrust had been
  growing since 1882.

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Artist Reaction

• Kathes son Peter was killed in World War One and
  her house had been burned down-after this she
  vowed to create a memorial for her son
• Kathe was always sympathetic to the people living
  in poverty, a scene she saw everyday of her
  life-because of this, she created art that they
  could appreciate and view
• Dr. Karl Kollwitz, Kathes husband, ran a
  childrens clinic in a poverty-stricken
  neighborhood. This environment stemmed the social
  messages in Kollwitz paintings.
• Was taught radical beliefs of religion from her
  uncles, father and grandfather (who founded the
  Free Religious Congressional Church) these
  teachings taught her to suppress her
  feelings-caused her later in life to avidly
  express what she had kept in

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Artist Reaction

• During the period of the Weimar Republic
  Kollwitzs status as one of Germanys great
  artists at last received official recognition.
• In 1919 she became the first woman to be elected
  a professor and member of the Prussian Academy of
  Arts in Berlin, and she became the chair of the
  graphic arts department in 1928.
• She devoted herself to the cause of social
  justice and peace, was invited to travel to the
  Soviet Union in 1927, and received Germanys
  highest honor, the Pour le Mérite, in 1929.
• In the years that followed, her reaction to the
  war found a continuous outlet she produced the
  cycle War in woodcut form

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Style and Content

• All of the historical events listed in the
  previous slides contributed to her art and her
  three major themes suffering, poverty, and
  injustice
• Kollwitzs art was centered on the depiction of
  humanity and reflected her deep compassion for
  the poor and her hatred for social injustice and
  war. The self-portrait and themes of revolution,
  poverty, motherhood, childhood, and death engaged
  Kollwitz over her fifty-year career. Her
  exploration of these universal themes culminated
  in such works
• Decided to concentrate upon graphic art.
• Initially her work was grounded in Naturalism,
  and later took on Expressionistic qualities
• Expressionism style in which the intention is
  not to reproduce a subject accurately, but
  instead to portray it in such a way as to express
  the inner state of the artist. The movement is
  especially associated with Germany, and was
  influenced by such emotionally-charged styles as
  Symbolism, Fauvism, and Cubism.

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Inspiration

• Her early artistic development was influenced by
  the works and writing of the painter and etcher
  Max Klinger (18571920).
• The Weavers", which dramatized the oppression of
  the Silesian weavers in Langembielau and their
  failed revolt in 1842, inspired, the artist
  ceased work on a series of etchings and produced
  a cycle of six works on the weavers theme, three
  lithographs (Poverty, Death, and Conspiracy) and
  three etchings with aquatint and sandpaper (March
  of the Weavers, Riot, and The End).

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Inspiration

• The Peasants' War was a popular revolt in the
  Holy Roman Empire in the years 1524/1525. It
  consisted, of a series of economic as well as
  religious revolts by peasants, townsfolk and
  nobles.
• The conflict, which took place mostly in
  southern, western, and central areas of modern
  Germany but also affected areas in neighbouring
  modern Switzerland and Austria, involved at its
  height in the spring and summer of 1525 an
  estimated 300,000 peasant insurgents
  contemporary estimates put the dead at 100,000.
  It was Europe's largest and most widespread
  popular uprising before the 1789 French
  Revolution. When completed, the Peasant War
  consisted of pieces in etching, acquatint, and
  soft ground

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Uprising

• Classic example of Modernism
• Etching
• Scene of pain and suffering
• Black and white
• Blending of the black, white and gray

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Selbstbildnis

• Etching
• Facial expression despair and somber
• Black and white
• Blending
• No sharp lines
• Particular pencil strokes

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Mutter mit Kind auf dem Arm

• Etching
• Black and white
• More defined pencil strokes
• Sense of peace and connection
• Intense shading

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Sturm

• Black and white
• Scene of poverty
• Contrast of poor people and nice house
• Dramatic pencil strokes

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Weberzug

• War scene
• Facial expressions determined
• Shading
• Sharp definitive lines
• Short pencil strokes

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Begrüssung

• Minimal
• Simple background
• Family scene
• People are content
• Messy lines
• Dark v. light

14
Mutter mit Zwillingen

• Sense of connection between children and mother
• Another family scene
• Bronze
• Mother depicted as caring and loving

15
Die Klage (Zum Gedenken des verstorbenen Ernst
Barlach)

• Sad and distressed looking
• Bronze
• Hands look connected to the face
• Eye closed to block out pain

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Which is a Kollwitz?
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ANSWER

• The one of the LEFT
• Verbrüderung
• Sense of connection with people
• Etching
• Black and white
• Shading
• Particular pencil strokes
• Not a particularly happy piece, more solemn

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Bibliography

• http//www.artcyclopedia.com/artists/kollwitz_kath
  e.html
• http//www.artnet.com/PDB/PublicLotDetails.aspx?lo
  t_id425568293page1
• www.brigantine.atlnet.org
• faculty.evansville.edu
• neo-neocon.blogspot.com
• http//findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0422/is_2_8
  0/ai_54073976
• http//www.rogallery.com/Kollwitz/Kollwitzhm.htm
• http//www.germannotes.com/hist_weimar_republic.sh
  tml
• http//www.historylearningsite.co.uk/ww1.htm
• http//wwar.com/masters/k/kollwitz-kathe.html
• http//www.famsf.org/fam/membership/councils/counc
  il_news.asp?newskey1councilkey1
• Britannica Encyclopedia