Käthe Kollwitz

Mothers Protecting Their Children

Maker

Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)

Title

Mothers Protecting Their Children

Year

1918

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

charcoal

Supports

Dimensions

Sheet: 44.8 x 61 cm (17 5/8 x 24 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

In pencil, lower right: Kollwitz 1918. Lower right, below image: Mutter lhre Kinder/Beschiirmen

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

1999.92

Type

Exhibition History

Dreams and Nightmares
German Graphic Arts, 1900 - 1933
Nov 05, 2004 – Jan 23, 2005

Label copy

The death of her son Peter as a soldier in World War I devastated Kollwitz. In two different prints entitled Mothers, Kollwitz depicted women protecting their young children. The preparatory drawing (on view at top right) for the first print reveals her initial emphasis on the haggard mother at left. Only later did she add her own self-portrait to the final lithograph (on view at left).

On February 6, 1919, Kollwitz wrote in her diary: “Today on Peter’s birthday I can do it. I drew the mother, who encloses both her children, it’s me with my own children, born of my flesh, my Hans and my little Peter” (cited in Martin Fritsch, ed., Käthe Kollwitz:

Zeichnung, Grafik, Plastik. Leipzig: 1999, p. 192).

Image use

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Tombstone

Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)
Mothers Protecting Their Children, 1918
Charcoal on medium weight blue-gray laid paper
Sheet: 44.8 x 61 cm (17 5/8 x 24 inches)
Anonymous gift 1999.92

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