Kathe Kollwitz - Softcover

Prelinger, Elizabeth

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0894681702 ISBN 13: 9780894681707

Publisher: National Gallery of Art, 1992

Synopsis

The German printmaker, draftsman, and sculptor Kathe Kollwitz's images of mothers and children and of protest against social injustice have long been admired by both critics and the public. Kollwitz adhered to a figurative style in the era of abstraction and she depicted socially-engaged subject matter when it was unfashionable. Critics have often focused on those issues and have rarely studied the ways in which the artist manipulated technique and resolved formal problems. This illustrated book redresses this imbalance, portraying Kollwitz as an innovative and virtuosic artist rather than as merely a chronicler of particular themes. The book consists of three essays on Kollwitz - Elizabeth Prelinger provides a reassessment of Kollwitz as an artist; Alessandra Comini presents a discussion of Kollwitz's life in Berlin during the tumultuous period that spanned two world wars; and Hildegard Bachert surveys the reception of Kollwitz in Germany and America as manifested in collections of her works. The volume, which includes a selection examples of Kollwitz's work, juxtaposes preparatory drawings with finished art, illustrating the arduous experimental process by which she attained her results. Themes important to Kollwitz - such as self portraits, political and social activism as illustrated in the cycles "The Weavers' Rebellion" and "The Peasants' War", love and death, nudes, workers, and war and revolution - are explored in all media.

About this title

From Library Journal

This monograph, prepared to accompany a striking exhibition, provides important information on the life and art of one of the 20th century's most influential figurative artists. Kollwitz's brutally unadorned social commentary, with particular reference to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, continues to have the power to touch many viewers. The English-language text of this scholarly work is particularly useful, because most publications on Kollwitz are in German--the notable exception being the translated catalogue raisonne by Tom Fecht, Kathe Kollwitz: Works in Color (Schocken, 1988). Prelinger's insightful reappraisal of Kollwitz's aesthetic values and techniques are accompanied by Alessandra Comini's and Hildegard Bachert's fine essays. Even more than the good-quality plates, this book's text and its survey of German and American collections make it essential for research libraries.
- Paula A. Baxter, NYPL
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: National Gallery of Art
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0894681702
• ISBN 13: 9780894681707
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192