Käthe Kollwitz

"As the wife of a doctor practicing in a working-class district of Berlin, Kathe Kollwitz saw much of violence, deprivation and death. She identified with the workers, and although she was not herself a member of any political party, she was associated with the socialist revolutionary movements led by such people as Rosa Luxemburg, Carl Liebknecht and the great reformers of the time. Her etchings, drawings and lithographs are of enormous interest, not only for their high technical skill, but also for their witness to Kollwitz's unremitting concern for human beings. The influence of Goya and Rembrandt is evident in her mature work, particularly in the powerful figure drawings. Unflinchingly, Kathe Kollwitz recorded what she saw. Thus it was inevitable, when Hitler came to power, that she experience humiliation and suffering at the hands of the Nazis. Romain Rolland wrote: "The work of Kathe Kollwitz, which reflects the ordeal and the pain of the humble and simple, is the greatest German poem of the age...she voices the silence of the sacrificed." This study by Otto Nagel, who knew Kollwitz well, will broaden knowledge and understanding of this unique artist and the forces that shaped her work." --