COLLECTION NAME:
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
mediaCollectionId
ArtArtHiAAH~7~7
Visual Resources Teaching Collection
Collection
true
Image Record ID:
aahi0000607
image_record_id
aahi0000607
Image Record ID
false
Work Title (display):
Pieta in the Neue Wache
Image Title:
detail from right front of mother holding her dead son
Work Description:
one of several casts
Work Dates (display):
1938
Work Dates type:
creation
Work Creator (display):
Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)
Work Creator gender:
female
work_creator_or_agent_gender
female
Work Creator gender
false
Work Creator notes (display):
German printmaker and sculptor. She received her first art tuition from Rudolph Mauer (18451905) in Königsberg in 1881. She continued her training in 1885 in Berlin under Karl Stauffer-Bern and in 1888 under Ludwig Herterich (18561932) in Munich. Influenced by the prints of Max Klinger, which had been brought to her attention by Stauffer-Bern, she devoted herself to this form and gave up painting after 1890. She first produced etchings and lithographs but later also woodcuts. From 1891 she lived in Berlin where she had her first success: the portfolio of three lithographs and three etchings, A Weavers' Revolt (18958; Washington, DC, N.G.A.), inspired by Gerhard Hauptmann's play Die Weber, was shown at the Grosse Berliner Kunstausstellung. Kollwitz joined the Secession in Berlin and was appointed to a special teaching post at the Künstlerinnenschule. Kollwitz was indebted stylistically to naturalism, but her preferred subject-matter was linked to the emerging workers' movement. Her prints on themes of social comment were carried out predominantly in black and white. However, her training as a painter had initially exerted considerable influence on her style. This changed around the turn of the century. Abandoning natural surroundings, she concentrated on different ways of representing the human body. It was then that a sculptural sensibility became decisive for her graphic forms. The first expression of this changing style was the etching Woman with Dead Child (1903; Washington, DC, Lib. Congr.), which portrayed with an almost sculptural monumentality a crouching, naked female figure with her child on her lap. Kollwitz combined a trip to Paris in 1904 with a visit to the Académie Julian, where she learnt the basic principles of sculpture. After completing a series of seven etchings entitled Peasant War (19028; Washington, DC, N.G.A.) she began to create her own sculptures from 1910. Although Kollwitz was primarily a printmaker, the importance of sculpture in her work must not be underestimated. It is often possible to perceive an interaction between graphic and sculptural work that operates both stylistically and in the reciprocal usage of images and ideas. As a printmaker and sculptor alike, Kollwitz was a slow worker. The Parents' Monument (granite, h. of mother 1.22 m, h. of father 1.51 m, 1924; finished and erected 1932, Eessen-Roggevelde (now Vlasloo-Praedbosch), nr Diksmuide, Belgium), dedicated to her son, who died in action during World War I, exemplifies the lengthy formation process. Some of her prints, too, such as the series of seven woodcuts War (19223; Washington, DC, N.G.A.), were inspired by World War I. An exhibition of the work of Ernst Barlach in 1917 had prompted her to work in woodcuts, as he had done. Her first work in this medium was Memorial to Karl Liebknecht (191920; Philadelphia, PA, Mus. A.), a commemorative print of the Spartacist leader who had been murdered in 1919. Barlach cannot merely be regarded as the impulse behind her interest in the woodcut. There existed a close spiritual affinity between the two artists. In terms of artistic production Barlach's work guided Kollwitz towards simplicity and unity in representation. Kollwitz's intensive artistic engagement with the war and the death of her son make clear that all of her work was shaped greatly by her personal life, by events and emotions that she had experienced directly. Thus, after her first two series, which dealt with revolutionary themes, she portrayed increasingly passive states, such as those of suffering, waiting and enduring. A more active tendency returned to her work in the 1930s, triggered by the advent of World War II. Kollwitz was persistently concerned with the themes of mother and child, war, death and misery, and the self-portrait, for example Self-portrait with Karl Kollwitz (see fig.). The themes were explored not only in her prints and drawings but also in her sculpture throughout her life. Hands and faces served her as vehicles of feelings, with bodies for the most part concealed beneath shapeless articles of clothing. It was consistent with the way Kollwitz saw herself that she wanted to use her art to work for a cause and consequently designed posters on a variety of occasions. One of the first served as an announcement for an exhibition in 1905. Her most famous poster is probably WarNever Again! (1924; New York, Gal. St Etienne). Kollwitz's committed political stance also contributed to the wide circulation of her work and to the heightening of her reputation. Of particular importance are the large exhibition on the occasion of her 50th birthday in 1917 at the Paul Cassirer Gallery, Berlin, and two exhibitions in Moscow in 1927 and 1932. During the Weimar Republic (191933) Kollwitz was very successful. In 1919 she became the first woman to be admitted to the Preussische Akademie der Künste, Berlin, and received the title of professor. She had been running a studio in printmaking since 1928, and in 1929 she was awarded the Prussian decoration Pour le mérite. In 1932 she participated in a petitionary action against the Nazis. As a result of this act of political commitment, after Adolf Hitler's accession to power in 1933 she was asked to leave the academy, and at the same time she lost her studio. Her work was included in exhibitions in Berlin and Munich in 1934 and 1935 but after that the state made it difficult for her to exhibit. The sense of mourning and longing for death that governed Kollwitz's later works was elaborated around the portrayal of the mother protecting her children. At the same time her sculptural works came to the fore; after the series Death (eight lithographs, 19347; Washington, DC, N.G.A.) she produced four more prints but completed 14 sculptures. Among these were: Self-portrait (bronze, h. 3.7 m, 192636); the tomb relief Rest in the Peace of his Hands (bronze, h. 3.5 m, 19356; Berlin, Friedrichsfelde Cemetery); the Tower of Mothers (bronze, h. 2.7 m, 1938), which took up once more, from the series War, the image of mothers standing close together, protecting their children; the relief Lament (bronze, h. 2.6 m, 193840), produced in response to the death of Barlach; and the reliefs Mother Protecting her Child I and Mother Protecting her Child II (bronze, h. 1.8 m, 1.7 m, 19412), which paralleled her final print, Seeds for Sowing Should Not Be Milled (lithograph, 1942). The events of World War II caused Kollwitz to leave Berlin in 1943. Although a large portion of her work was stored in cellars, many of them were still lost when her house was destroyed in November 1943. (Grove Art Online Accessed 2006-07-28)
Work Style Period:
Expressionist
work_styleperiod
Expressionist
Work Style Period
false
Work Style Period:
20th century
work_styleperiod
20th century
Work Style Period
false
Work Subject:
emotions
subject
emotions
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
sons
subject
sons
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
pieta
subject
pieta
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
World War, 1914-1918
subject
World War, 1914-1918
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
mothers
subject
mothers
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
memorials
subject
memorials
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
sadness
subject
sadness
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
death
subject
death
Work Subject
false
Work Subject:
mourning
subject
mourning
Work Subject
false
Work Worktype:
casts (sculpture)
work_type
casts (sculpture)
Work Worktype
false
Work Worktype:
sculpture (visual works)
work_type
sculpture (visual works)
Work Worktype
false
Work Category (VRC classification):
sculptures and installations
work_category__ucbaahvrc_classification_
sculptures and installations
Work Category (VRC classification)
false
Work Material and Technique (display):
bronze
Work Location (Repository or Site) name:
Neue Wache (Berlin, Germany)
Work Location (Repository or Site) role:
repository
Work Location (Geographic) name:
Berlin, Germany
Image Rights (display):
© Ronald Wiedenhoeft. Licensed for educational use via Scholars Resource: Saskia, Ltd.
Image Rights license agreement:
SASKIA, LTD.: WHO CAN USE THIS SOFTWARE: (a) Licensee, including faculty, staff and currently enrolled students may use the Licensed Software to display and or print the corresponding graphic images without limitation for teaching and research purposes at the defined Sites, or at remote locations having electronic access to your Site(s). (b) This license include permission to use the Licensed Software on a multi-user network at the defined Site, and to permit remote access to a computer/server located at your Site. Simultaneous display in multiple locations at or connected to the Site is also permitted. (c) Licensee agrees to employ reasonable security measures designed to limit access to your faculty, staff and currently enrolled students. PROHIBITED USES AND LIMITATIONS: (a) Saskia hereby reserves all rights not expressly granted herein. (b) the License Software may not be used for preparaiton of any publication, scholarly or otherwise; or for any purpose other than teaching or research. Publication of an image from the Licensed Software requires a separate license from Saskia. (c) Licensee agrees not to resell, lease, transfer, sub-license or otherwise distribute a copy of the Licensed Software, or any image taken from the Licensed Software, in whole or in part. (d) Licensee also agrees not to modify, corrupt or alter any digital image graphic content or "digital watermark" or the like in the software provided by Saskia under this Agreement. (e) Licensee agrees not to remove, alter, cover or distort Saskia's copyright notice, trademark, or other proprietary rights notice placed by Saskia in the Licensed Software itself, or in the associated packaging, media or documentation. (f) And Licensee agrees to notify users of the Licensed Software, in writing or by sign-on screen display, of their obligations under this Agreement and solicit their cooperation and compliance with such obligations.
Work Rights (display):
© Käthe Kollwitz
Terms of Agreement and Conditions of Use:
YOU AGREE: Luna Imaging's Insight Software and the digital image collection associated with it (the Software) are being provided by the University of Colorado under the following license. By obtaining, using, and/or copying this work, you (the Licensee) agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with the following terms and conditions. 1. The Software contains the University of Colorado's Department of Art and Art History's implementation of a digital image collection; 2. Any images obtained through use of the Software will be used only for non-profit, educational purposes; 3. The use of images obtained through the software will only be used while the Licensee is either: a) an employee of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver, or b) an enrolled student at the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver, or the Community College of Denver; 4. When the Licensee is no longer an employee or student of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or Community College of Denver, either by an action of the University of Colorado, Metropolitan State College of Denver or the Community College of Denver or due to actions of the Licensee, the licensee will cease to use any images exported from the Department of Art and Art History's digital image collection; 5. The Licensee agrees to indemnify the University for claims and liability arising out of the use of the Software or for any violations of this license; 6. THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO SUPPLIES THE SOFTWARE WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
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Holding Institution:
University of Colorado at Boulder
Collection:
Art and Art History Visual Resources Center
Collection info and contact:
For information about this collection, see