Kathe Kollwitz (1867 - 1945) was born to a family of convinced socialists, which influenced her view of the world. The artist dedicated her life’s work to social subjects. Once the world will and be through with all wars, she wrote hopefully. Kathe Kollwitz practiced sculpture, painting and graphic art, but the focus of her works remained unchanged. She believed that art could influence the society and tilt at wrongs.
Bust of a Working Woman
Creation period
1903
Dimensions
53x45 cm
Technique
Colored lithograph on paper
Collection
7
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Kathe Kollwitz
Bust of a Working Woman
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Kathe Kollwitz was born and received basic art education in Königsberg. Later on, when already in Paris, she studied in particular under Auguste Rodin, the great reformer of modern sculpture. Back there the artist first turned her attention to gender problems and embarked upon the image of a contemporary woman.
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Self-portrait. 1903
During the period from 1901 to 1910 the artist created her best known series of works. Kathe Kollwitz chose the figure of a mother as her key art image. It was a woman who had to struggle with hunger and poverty for the sake of her children. The artist portrayed women who had lost any hope for the better in a deliberately darkened manner in order to emphasize the tragedy of her characters’ situation. Just this type of image features in her lithograph entitled Bust of a Working Woman in a Blue Shawl.
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In her lifetime Kathe Kollwitz created many similar expressive portraits. As a rule, they were rather generalized and did not bear any personal traits. The artist intentionally chose an auster and laconic style, realistic and deprived of any coloristic variety. It is most simple and yet deeply psychological.
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The technique of colored lithography, used to make several copies of one plate, proved to fit the artist’s goal. The resulting picture looked out of focus, which helped to show her character as a typical figure. She was depersonalized, so her fate was common to all working women in Germany.
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Death Seizing a Woman. 1934
In 1919 Kathe Kollwitz became the first ever woman who was elected professor at Prussian Academy of Arts. By that time she had lost a son who volunteered to fight in World War I. For this reason, her artworks grew even gloomier. In the 1920s she managed to visit Moscow and display her works at the exhibition of German art.
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When the national socialists came to power, Kathe Kollwitz was forced to leave the Academy of Arts and soon her works were banned. Although ironically it’s her famous etchings that were copied by Adolf Hitler, the future German Fuehrer, in his youth.
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Kemerovo Regional Museum of Fine Arts
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Bust of a Working Woman
Creation period
1903
Dimensions
53x45 cm
Technique
Colored lithograph on paper
Collection
7
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