the Art of Kathe Kollwitz

Glad you posted this, Farmerman. I will add links as I find them too...but not perhaps for a few days as I will be away. Have you looked in the Helpful Links Topic (in the featured topics)? Some of them may be useful...

Dear Farmerman - thank you! I have always enjoyed her work. At one time I was living in Iowa City for several years and came to know another artist of the Holocaust - Mauricio Lasanski, a printmaker. I know that such subject matter is most disturbing for some, but then again look to the art of Klimpt and others predatin these artists. Heck, then there is Goya! And before that so many. What is art but that which can directly get to the heart and soul of matters!

Ill have to look for information about Lasanski. Its amazing that Kollwitz, although her work was mostly from the early 20th century, she is often mistaken as a Holocaust artist. Actually her work comments on war of all time , from the Franco Prussian ,through WWII.

Graphically, her work strikes me with the way the subjects just fill the paper, and how spontaneous it appears.

Good ole Artcyclopedia.com came through with a lot of links, Ill feed them into the thread if people are interested. To me , links are like spice, you should always leave them wanting more. So Ill just post one .
This link is an example of her lithos and some sculptures (busts). Note how, in the paper work she uses the paper to be a partner in the workWebpage Title

Good ole Artcyclopedia.com came through with a lot of links, Ill feed them into the thread if people are interested. To me , links are like spice, you should always leave them wanting more. So Ill just post one .
This link is an example of her lithos and some sculptures (busts). Note how, in the paper work she uses the paper to be a partner in the work
kollwitz work

kollwitz
I've always loved the drawings of Kollwitz. I have a book of her work--somewhere. I've heard it said that her work was "sentimental." This was said by a person who probably had trouble with strong emotion--like those who say the same of Tchaikovsky. One of her drawings is of a mother holding her dead child. It is SO powerful. The mother's grief has clearly brutalized her (as shown in the body of the mother). Two questions: did Kollwitz ever draw or paint with color? and how does one pronounce her first name; I've never heard it spoken. Great choice, Farmerman. I forgive your avatar.

FMKollwitz is a new discovery for me wonderful drawings.

I remember some of her works in some sepia tones and other single colors , but always a print, (litho and block mostly).She was also a sculptor and her sculpture , to me, isnt as thought provoking as are her prints.

Youre right JL, I could hardly call her work sentimental. In fact, her late life series on "Death of the children, women, etc" are some very non-traditional political commentary of pre Nazi Germany. Hitler was outraged at her work so that he kept her influence out of the mainstream till her death in 1945.
What gets me more than anything is the way her work almost lifts itself out of the paper by her posing and use of black as a ground rather than an outline. People always compare her work to Goyas Cappricios and political vignettes.

joanne, you should follow some tales of her life, she was one of those who , like man y gret artists are "Not always right, but are never in doubt"

FM what a great quote and it certainly suits me.

There is an exhibition of Kollwitz work at the Art Gallery of Ontario
(Toronto) at the moment.

Damn, I gotta convince my wife that we must go to Toronto for Easter. She-, where did you see the information?
Maybe I can catch a Flyeres /Leafs playoff game. (RIGHT- do they even have scalpers in Canada?)

Farmer.....I am sure there will be scalpers & $$$$ exchange rate in your favour! The downside is the SARS outbreak....244 probable and suspect cases in Ontario. We are told efforts to contain virus are working .....yesterday's headline in the Toronto Star...."SARS: We have not lost control"

From the AGO web site:

Käthe Kollwitz
The Art of Compassion
Now On View : March 1 to May 25, 2003

Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, with drawings from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart / Graphische Sammlung


Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) was a leading 20th century German artist. The exhibition consists of 75 works, including 30 rare drawings from the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany, and 45 prints, drawings and sculptures from public and private collections in Ontario. This comprehensive selection will provide an overview of Kollwitz’s work, documenting her artistic development over a fifty-year career. This is the first major exhibition of the artist’s work to be organized in Canada since 1962. The Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart collection contains some of the artist’s most outstanding drawings which have never been seen as a group outside Germany.

shepaints. Thanks for the information. Im going to go. My wife is seeing about getting some help for the farm and we will take a weekend right after russian Easter.We will probably drive it , less hassle .
I guess I should be, but Im somehow not as concerned about SARS. The kids arent going , like they want to be seen with us in a museum.

sars
Farmerman, I hope you and your wife have a great experience, but please wash your hands like Lady McBeth, continuously. I've heard that that's one way to reduce your chances of infection.

This lithography from 1924 is called "Never again a war"



(Originally a poster/advert for the 'Middle German Youth Meeting Days in Leipzig")

I love her posters and directionals. see how her work is cropped by the page/ . You can see from her strong admonitions that later, Hitler never found her work in line with his vision.

ILNobody, the author Schweers mentioned in "Paintings in German Museums" only one (!) painting in Hannover, Germany, a Paris café in chalk and gouache on paper. About the pronunciation of her first name (just an attempt): Kaethe (ae = German a with two dots on top) is not so far from Kate, ae is similar to a in cat but longer, th is like t, e is a second syllable like e in bed. Don't stone me.

Käthe is pronounced like "kay-teh". You can hear it here:

http://cwx.prenhall.com/bookbind/pubbooks/preble/medialib/html/pronunciation_k.html

kathe
Mistral and Walter: THANKS!