Essay On Käthe Kollwitz

The Voice of Käthe Kollwitz Käthe Kollwitz was a German graphic artist from the early 20th century that first came into prominence around the 1900s with images of class conflict and social critique. Kollwitz’s post-war artwork depicted simplified human figures that expressed the human condition as well as the tragedy of war in black and white. She cared nothing for current art fashions, such as expressionism, cubism, and surrealism, because it was irrelevant to the concerns of working people (Skrapits 60). With this being said, her main goal was to communicate to the masses which drove her to the direction of greater simplicity, clarity, and overall, power of expression. Kollwitz showed empathy for the less fortunate and had her own means of expression that spoke for people who didn’t have a voice. While reading about Käthe Kollwitz I learned that her son was a victim to the tragedies of World War I and was killed in …show more content…
Around this time, German politics were polarized between communism and fascism. Kollwitz produced many more lithographs and prints that became posters that supported socialism and movements that dealt with anti-war. This leads me to another famous print I would like to discuss, Never Again War!, which was created in 1924. This was Käthe Kollwitz’s most widely produced print (Skrapits 58). This print depicted an individual with one hand stretched out into the sky shouting, “Nie wieder krieg!” (which translates to Never Again War!) with the other hand placed on the chest holding onto the heart. This gesture symbolized how somebody would take an oath in German. I feel Kollwitz print displayed a more positive attitude toward a society that was against war and the brutalities that came along with it. People around this time needed works like this to lift up their spirits, but sadly and ironically millions of German’s made the same gesture to swear this same oath to Adolf Hitler himself (Skrapits