Kaethe Kollwitz 凯绥·珂勒惠支速度慢.莫插楼.莫插...

Home Labour, 1925In remaining faithful to the art of realism Käthe Kollwitz attempts to develop an understanding between the artist and the people: "My art is not a form of studio art but an art that has living roots."Since girlhood, she has been fascinated by the working class character. This has a strong thematic influence on her work."I want to say something about being labelled a 'socially motivated' artist [...] the actual motive why from this time on (beginning with 'Weaver's Rebellion') I chose to portray almost exclusively the >proletariat< was that the theme from this world simply gave me what I considered beautiful. For me, beauty was the Konigsberger porter, beauty was the Polish Jimkies on their cargo ships, beauty was the grandeur of the people and the grace of their movements. The bourgeois had no appeal for me whereas the workers affected me deeply. Not until much later [...] did I fully comprehend the fate of the workers and all its repercussions."(Käthe Kollwitz in her autobiographical "Retrospective on Earlier Times", 1941).

Uprising, 1899A passionate expressiveness is one of the strongest characteristics distinguishing Käthe Kollwitz's art. This trait ist ensured by the vehemence of her aesthetic devices: "I have never worked coldly ... but rather, in a certain sense, with my own blood. Those who see my art must feel that."Oppression and revolt are the prime themes of her early work. Here emotions and ethics, an appeal to resistance and a call to arms are translated into physical expression.Kollwitz strives to influence society through her art. Her early series, based on historical events involving the German people, symbolically refer to her contemporary world.

Self-Portrait, 1926-36"If one had asked Käthe Kollwitz why she had depicted herself so often she would have probably replied with a grin: I've never really thought about it. I'm not an art historian, not even an interested layman, just an artist who did a lot of selfportraits. Why did I do that? I couldn't answer that question without giving a cleverly contrived response. I'm sure many times it happened merely because it was opportune to be my own model.The phenomenon of self-representation reaches an uparalleled height of expression with Rembrandt's approximately 100 self-portraits, painted, etched or drawn over a period of about 50 years. The artist explored his own being in these works. This honesty towards oneself, the search for the truth in one's own countenance, also characterizes Vincent van Gogh's selfportraits. Rembrandt's self-portraits are an example of how self-representation goes beyond artistic merit to provide insight into the essence and appearance of its creative element. This is only natural because in those moments when an artist is alone, face to face with himself, he strives to explore his innermost being with an often fanatical honesty. Kathe Kollwitz's self-portraits also manifest such an absolute candor."

The Survivors, 1923 "I am ashamed that I still haven't taken sides and I assume that if I were to give a response for not belonging to a party it could only be cowardice. Actually I'm not revolutionary but rather evolutionary. Since I am an artist associated with the working class and revolution and feel myself being pushed more and more into this position, I am afraid not to continue to act in this role. I was revolutionary, [...] were I young now I would most probably be a communist. Even now something pulls me towards this side. But I am now in my fifties, I've lived through the war and have seen Peter and thousands to other young men die. I am horrified and deeply shocked by all the hatred that exists in our world. I long for a Socialism that lets people live." (Käthe Kollwitz, Diary, October 1920).

The Call of Death, 1934/35The theme of death is present throughout Käthe Kollwitz's entire oeuvre.The death of her son Peter in World War One has a lasting influence on her. This leads to an almost obsessive preoccupation with the theme of death which characterizes her art to the very last. She never gets over his death: "His sacrificial death. And then I fell as well."Her work portrays death itself, the process of dying or the pain of those left behind. But death appears in other forms: as the force that wrested away one of her sons, and as the fate that she herself faces. It is her own despair that lies at the core of her work.One of her last works titled "The Call of Death" shows a woman with the artist's own features. She senses a hand touching her shoulder, inviting her to come - and she is ready to follow.

In Memory of Karl Liebknecht, 1919/20"I felt that I had no right to shirk my responsibility to act as an advocate. I must voice the enormous and endless suffering of humanity. This is my duty, though it is not easy to fulfill. One says that work can ease one´s mind. But is it any relief when, in spite of my poster (calling for aid for the hungry), people are dying every day of hunger?"(Käthe Kollwitz, Diary, January 5th 1920)."My work is not pure art. Nevertheless it is art. Every artist works in his own vein. I want my art to serve a purpose; I want it to have an impact in this day and age, when people are so desperate and in need of help."(Käthe Kollwitz, Diary, December 4th 1 922)."As an artist I have the right to extract emotional content wherever I sense it, to internalize it and to reveal its impact. Thus I also have the right to depict the worker's farewell to Liebknecht, ... without being interpreted as his political follower."(Käthe Kollwitz, Diary, 1920).

Lamentation, 1938"[...] slowly the burden of existence looms larger, the image of suffering is the only remaining face of reality, suffused with the painful but soothing longing for deliverance, an end to all this struggle, a meaning in the absurd." (Paul Fechter, Berlin, 1947).

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