Käthe Kollwitz

Pregnant Woman

Maker

Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)

Title

Pregnant Woman

Year

1910, published 1921

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Materials

etching

Supports

Dimensions

Plate: 36.8 x 22.9 cm (14 1/2 x 9 inches)

Identification

State

State 5. Kn. 111, state V

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift

Object Number

2005.142.52

Type

Exhibition History

A Process of Protest
Prints and Drawings of Käthe Kollwitz
Jul 28, 2006 – Nov 26, 2006

Label copy

Around the time she made this etching, Kollwitz wrote in her personal journal about pregnancy, a subject she pursued in both graphic arts and sculpture:

I imagine the following sculpture as utterly beautiful: a pregnant woman chiseled out of stone. Carved only down to the knees so that she looks the way Lise [Kollwitz’s sister] said she did the time she was pregnant with Maria: ‘As if I am rooted to the ground.’ The immobility, restraint, introspection. The arms and hands dangling heavily, the head lowered, all attention directed inward. And the whole thing in heavy, heavy stone. Title: Pregnancy. [Journal entry of September 1, 1911]

Image use

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Tombstone

Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945)
Pregnant Woman, 1910, published 1921
Etching, drypoint, aquatint, and softground with the imprint of laid paper and Ziegler's transfer paper
Plate: 36.8 x 22.9 cm (14 1/2 x 9 inches)
Anonymous gift 2005.142.52

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