Political Art

Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945)

The early 20^th century was a time of great political tension leading to wars and all the misery they bring along with them. While the leaders were busy etching their names in history introducing new forms of political thought and its implementation, the social impacts of their actions and how they transformed the lives of the common people were probably left somewhere in the subconscious of the warring rulers. Bringing these social issues to the front was needed in this time period so that the ones who were suffering due to warfare could be helped. It could also increase awareness among people so that such events are known for the true horror they were rather than the glorified image of it that the leaders not affected by such conditions seemed to provide their people with. Kathe Kollwitz was among those who expressed this through her art.

Help Russia (1921)

Kollwitz was born in 1867 in East Germany (formerly East Prussia) in an apparently open-minded family as she “was encouraged to draw by her father” (Chadwick, 290). Printmaking, particularly expressive etching and lithography, was her dominant medium although she sometimes leaned towards sculpturing and woodcutting as well. Influenced by the artworks and events taking place in her time, Kollwitz’s subject usually revolved around various social issues and conditions. Black and grey tones of color were abundant in her art pieces. One of her works, entitled Help Russia (German: Helft Russland) from 1921 was made by her for the people of Russia that were suffering from famine so that others could make the effort to aid them. The image demonstrates the grimness of the situation as “[g]aunt cheeks and sunken eyes give an emaciated man a skeletal appearance, while hands circle around him offering help” (MoMA, 2013). 

The Parents (1923)

Her experience with war led to her subjects gradually consisting of the relationship of the mother with her child as she lost one of her sons, Peter, during the First World War and a grandson in the second one which “contributed to her socialist and pacifist political sympathies” (Ro Gallery, 2013). She expressed this absolute devastating experience through The Parents (1923) which shows what it is like for parents who lose their beloved children in war and how it was for her personally as well. She didn’t only explore the dark side of the mother’s connection with the child, there are other works by her that truly show the relationship as gentle and loving such as her lithograph called Mother with a Child in her Arms (German: Mutter mit Kind auf dem Arm) made in 1916.

Mother with a Child in her Arms (1916)

 Kollwitz’s work still consisted of mostly of her “impassioned pleas to help those suffering the most severely from postwar food shortages, unemployment, and inflation” (MoMA, 2013). Her position as a woman and the messages she put out through her artwork did manage to displease some people so while faced with the wars going on causing other societal problems, she also had problems with her work and its circulation in some instances such as when she was denied the gold medal she had won for her successful work by the Kaiser. The Kaiser is recorded to have said “I beg you, gentlemen, a medal for a woman, that would really be going too far….Orders and medals of honor belong on the breasts of worthy men!” (Guerilla Girls, 70). Funnily enough, the artwork Kollwitz was being awarded for was the commemoration of a worker’s rebellion against the Kaiser’s own uncle.

Kathe Kollwitz’s work was probably much more influential than that of other artists during her time mainly due to the reason that her subject was something that ordinary people could relate to. Her work’s circulation wasn’t only limited to Germany but was distributed in other countries such as the United States as well. Her work will be remain significant throughout time as she expresses the hardships of the time when these major wars took place in a way that her audience can clearly “feel” the sadness and misery of living in such troubling times dominated by death. Her themes of issues relating to society, possibly due to their sympathetic treatment of the common man/woman, are still existent and recognizable when one observes the political artworks of this age and can be found in the newspapers, magazines, and websites of activists.

Works Cited

Chadwick, Whitney. Women, Art, and Society. 4th Edition. New York: Thames & Hudson, 2007. Print.

The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.

Kathe Kollwitz, German (1867 - 1945) RoGallery .N.d.Web. November 6, 2013.

 <http://www.rogallery.com/Kollwitz/Kollwitz-bio.htm>

Gabler, Josephine. N.p. MoMA. 2009. Web. November 6, 2013.

<http://www.moma.org/collection/browse_results.php?criteria=O%3AAD%3AE%3A3201&page_number=1&template_id=6&sort_order=1>

Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945), German Expressionism. N.d. Web. November 6, 2013. <http://www.germanexpressionism.com/printgallery/kollwitz/>