Käthe Kollwitz gives grief a public form

Slide 1

Kollwitz gave grief a public visual form

Käthe Kollwitz made images of suffering that extend beyond an individual portrait. Bodies and gestures communicate experiences of loss to a wider audience.

Slide 2

Woodcut gave the War series strong dark-light contrasts

Kollwitz used woodcut for the War series. Cut and uncut areas produce strong relationships between printed darkness and the light of the paper.

Slide 3

Grouped bodies could suggest protection and vulnerability

Figures pressed together can appear to shelter or support one another. Kollwitz uses bodily relationships to make vulnerability visible.

Slide 4

Peter’s wartime death formed part of the personal context

Kollwitz lost her son Peter during the First World War. That experience formed part of the context in which she developed images of grief.

Slide 5

Several images let grief appear through different situations

The War portfolio contains several related images. Their sequence allows grief to appear through different figures and situations rather than one definitive scene.

Sources

• War

  Museum of Modern Art

• The Widow I

  Blanton Museum of Art