Käthe Kollwitz [1867-1945]

Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz [1867-1945] was a German painter, printmaker & sculptor whose work offered an eloquent & often searing account of the human condition in the first half of the 20th century. Her empathy for the less fortunate, expressed most famously through the graphic means of drawing, etching, lithography & woodcut, embraced the victims of poverty, hunger & war.

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1893-1897 - "A Weavers' Uprising." "In 1889, Kathe married Karl Kollwitz, a doctor who worked in one of the poor districts of Berlin. Inspired by Gerhart Hauptmann's play, 'The Weavers,' Kollwitz began work on a series of six prints, 'A Weavers' Uprising' (1893-97). In 1898, Kollwitz began teaching in the School for Women Artists. The following year, 'A Weavers' Uprising' was exhibited in Dresden & purchased by a local museum. After the success of "A Weavers' Uprising,' Kollwitz began work on 'The Peasants' War' (1902-08)."

1908 - "Die Gefangenen / The Prisoners." "Plate 7 from the 'Peasant Wars' series from 1908. The defeated prisoners have been herded together for punishment & execution."

1919 - "Memorial for Liebknecht." "When paramilitarists murdered Leftist leaders Rosa Luxemburg & Karl Liebknecht, Käthe Kollwitz made his portrait in the mortuary at the request of Liebknecht’s family. In spite of sympathies, she never joined the Communist Party."

1924 - "Die Uberlebenden: Krieg dem Kriege! / The Survivors. Fight war not wars!," poster (Germany). Made ten years after the beginning of WW-I, at the request of the international trade union movement.

1931 - Neue Wache / New Guard House, north side of Unter den Linden, Berlin (Germany). Guard house constructed in 1816. Memorial to the victims of war and tyranny since 1931. Includes sculpture (added in 1993) of "Mother with her dead son" by "the famous sociocritical artist" Käthe Schmidt Kollwitz [1867-1945].

1932 - "Grieving Parents," Vladslo German War Cemetery, Diksmuide/Dixmude (Belgium). "Kollwitz made the statue as a tribute to her youngest son, Peter, who was killed in October 1914 & is buried nearby. The eyes on the father-figure gaze on the ninth stone before him, on which his son's name is written."

1937 - "Mutter mit zwei Kindern / Mother With Two Children." Apparently in multiple locations. "Käthe Kollwitz left only a very small sculptural œuvre. The group 'Mutter mit zwei Kindern / Mother with Two Children' from 1937 is one of her main sculptural works, next to an older group done in stone for the military cemetery in Roggenvelde, Belgium. Early on, Kollwitz had become involved with the theme of mother & child. When her grandchildren, the twins Jördis & Jutta, were born in 1923, the event 'had a broadening impact on [her] sculptures' (trans. from: W. Timm, Käthe Kollwitz, Berlin 1974). In 1924, Kollwitz started to work on the group 'Mutter mit zwei Kindern', yet she only completed it in 1937 after a long developing process & simultaneous work on further sculptures."

August 5, 1960 - Statue of "Mother & Child in the Storm", in front of Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, Hiroshima (Japan). Presented by "Japan Council Against Atomic & Hydrogen Bombs" during "Fifth World Conference." Erected with help of donations collected by "Hiroshima Municipal Federation of Women's Associations." The statue depicts a mother holding an infant tightly in one arm and protecting another with the determination to survive whatever suffering may confront her.#31 of 56 "cenotaphs & monuments" on the Virtual E-Tour. Was the sculptor of this statue influenced by the work of Kathe Kollwitz?

1961 - Statue of Käthe Kollwitz, Kollwitz Platz, Prenzlauer Berg district, Berlin (Germany). In platz / square named for Kollwitz after WW-II. "The square forms the center of the so-called "Kollwitz Kiez." was on 7 October 1947 after the German graphic artist and sculptor Käthe Kollwitz, named here spent much of their lives in the house Kollwitzstraße 56a (then Weissenburgerstrasse 25). Until then, he said Wörther place, a name which he received in the planning of the area 1875th Indirectly, it also reminds the husband Karl Kollwitz, who practiced medicine here until 1940, was not dependent on his wife and the environment influenced the square. The triangular system is limited by the Kollwitzstraße, the Knaackstraße and the Worth Street (the intersection Husemannstraße). Overall, the place around 6000 m²." /// Left photo taken in 1979. Right photo is "Bildnis der Käthe Kollwitz; Plastik von Gustav Seitz auf dem Kollwitzplatz." /// Frühlich rummeln sich die Berliner Kinder vom Prenslauer Berg rund um das Käthe-Kollwitz-Denkmal am Kollwitz-Platz.

1985 - Statue of Käthe Kollwitz, ___ (Germany). By Gustav Seitz [1906-19xx]. Where is this?

October 7, 1983 - "Protection of Our Future," Peace Symbols Zone, Nagasaki Peace Park, Nagasaki (Japan). From the city of Middelburg, The Netherlands (Nagasaki's sister city). "Shows a mother protecting her infant-child from danger, representing that we must protect not only the present generation but also the coming generation as well so that the people of the world can live in peace together." Was the sculptor of this statue influenced by the work of Kathe Kollwitz?

April 22, 1985 - Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum, Neumarkt, Köln/Cologne (Germany). "Has the largest collection of works. The museum came about when the granddaughters of Kathe Kollwitz living in Cologne wanted to sell their collections. These collections were approximately sixty graphic works, and all fifteen bronze sculptures. After purchase by the Kreissparkasse Cologne in 1983 was the collection, which until then was first kept in the Wallraf-Richartz Museum in Cologne and later in the Stuttgart State Gallery, Cologne finally retained. On April 22, 1985, the fortieth anniversary of the artist, the museum was opened at Cologne Neumarkt. In the museum some 200 works exhibited. [Google translation from Dutch]" Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

1986 - Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum, Fasanenstraße 24, Berlin (Germany). "Has a collection of works by the artist, from the estate of the deceased in 1993, gallery owner and collector Hans Pels-Leusden. In a permanent exhibition on four floors of the museum is an important part of the work of Käthe Kollwitz, who fifty years has lived and worked in Berlin, exhibited. The building in which the Kathe Kollwitz Museum is located, belongs to the adjacent Literaturhaus Berlin & Café Wintergarten called the Ensemble. To this complex is also the Villa Grisebach, a renowned gallery & auction house. [Google Translation from Dutch]" Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

Date? - Stiftung Käthe-Kollwitz-Haus, Moritzburg (Germany). "In the last home of Kathe Kollwitz in the Meissner Strasse 7 in Moritzburg near Dresden, where she lived from July 1944 until her death on April 22, 1945, is a museum with a small collection of graphic work from the artist. This museum traces the only museum a few personal belongings of the artist see: a nightstand, her diary and a bust of Goethe. Also in the museum and share photographs from her diary and correspondence show. [Google translation from Dutch]" Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

1989 - Armenian Earthquake Statue, American Red Cross Headquarters, Washington, DC (USA). Statue of a woman holding a child. Gift of the people of Armenia to thank the American Red Cross for their assistance during an earthquake that ravaged Armenia on December 7, 1988. Thousands were killed and tens of thousands left homeless. Was the sculptor of this statue influenced by the work of Kathe Kollwitz?

January 8, 1991 - German stamp. From the stamp series "Frauen der deutschen Geschichte / Women of German history."

T O W E R

1992 - De Käthe Kollwitz-toren / Käthe Kollwitz Tower, Koekelare, West Flanders (Belgium). "Ast in the old brewery was Christiaen Käthe Kollwitz-decorated tower. A number of graphic works by the renowned German artist Kathe Kollwitz [1867=1945] are viewable here. The Grieving Parents statue of the German Military Cemetery in Vladslo ([near Diksmuide] about 4 km from the Käthe Kollwitz Tower) where Käthe's son [Peter] is buried. The graphic art of Käthe Kollwitz is world famous, not only from a purely artistic standpoint, but also because her art expresses her concern with the fate and future of mankind. Through her art she stood on the side of those who were deprived of their rights, reduce poverty and exploitation were members. But she gave her work also expresses its pacifist attitude and her disapproval for the war. Käthe Kollwitz The tower holds a unique collection, an ideal opportunity to use this universal artist acquainted. [Google translation from Dutch]" Information courtesy of Gerard Lössbroek.

November 23, 1994 - Sakima Art Museum, Ginowan City, Okinawa (Japan). - Founded by Michio Sakima "to convey the truth of war using the power of art." Overlooks US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. "has the largest collection of Kaethe Kollwitz art work in Japan, and possibly outside Germany." Also features works by Georges-Henri Rouault, Toshi & Iri Maruki, and Makoto Ueno. Right image shows "Battle of Okinawa" painted Toshi & Iri Maruki in 1984.