Käthe Kollwitz

The theme of women as revolutionaries pervades Peasant’s War. Kollwitz was inspired by historian Wilhelm Zimmermann’s book, The Great German Peasant War, particularly his description of Black Anna, a peasant woman who incited the revolt. In this print, the large, central figure of a woman propels the men into a run with the force of her own energy. Kollwitz chose to position the figure with her back to the viewer, poised at the edge of the picture plane, a strategy that both universalizes her and engages the viewer in the action. In this ninth of eleven states, the texture of cloth fabric, pressed into a soft ground, can be discerned throughout the plate.