“All my work hides within it life itself, and it is with life that I contend through my work.”
One of the most important and accomplished graphic artists of the 20th century, Kollwitz rendered scenes of immense passion, strength, tenderness and despair in a time of unprecedented political and social upheaval.
She was born on July 8th, 1867 in Königsberg in East Prussia. Although still under the control of the Kaiser, her parents and grandparents shared with her a strong socialist mentality that she would adhere to for her entire life. From a very young age she was encouraged by her father in her artistic endeavors. To this end, she attended the Königsberg Academy of Art, the Berlin Academy of Art and the Munich Academy of Art. In 1890 she married Karl Kollwitz, a young doctor and her childhood friend. The two moved into a house in Berlin where Karl set up his practice and Käthe her studio.
Kollwitz took up her first major exploration of revolution in sympathy with the workers with her print cycle Revolt of the Weavers. It was exhibited in 1898 at the Great Berlin Exhibit. She was put forward for a gold medal by the jurors, but this was vetoed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for its socialist content. It was later shown in Dresden in 1899 where Max Lehrs, director of Prints and Drawings at the Dresden Museum of Art, proposed gold medal for her to King of Saxony. He agreed and this increased Kollwitz’s already increasing fame. Kollwitz’s interest in the revolutionary led her to do a second cycle, The Peasant’s War, this time primarily through the eyes of the female characters. With the success of these cycles, she was deemed one of the foremost artists in the country.
After she witnessed the ravages and consequences of World War I, not the least among them the death of her son Peter, Kollwitz became a staunch pacifist. She maintained her stance as a social democrat her entire life, but she no longer advocated violence as a means to an end. Turning instead to the hungry and the poor, and images of mothers and children, Kollwitz continued to be a voice for the voiceless in an attempt to engage in a meaningful dialogue with her viewers.
Often grouped with the German Expressionsits, Kollwitz never was affiliated with, nor espoused the doctrines of any Expressionist group. She felt that “pure studio art,” had the unfortunate potential to get too far away from the average viewer. Instead she sought to establish a rapport between herself and the viewer. Making prints was an important part of this relationship and created the accessibility she sought in that prints were far more affordable than paintings. She wanted to spread her message as widely as possible to arouse and waken mankind.
Kollwitz’s success as a print artist lead her to unprecedented advances as a female working in a male dominated profession. She was the first woman to be admitted to, and appointed as a professor, at the Berlin Academy of Art. Respected for her unmatched intaglio techniques, universal images of social consciousness, and emotional intensity, Kollwitz's remains one of the most sought-after modern print artists at Davidson Galleries.
