German printmaker, sculptor, teacher, and social activist Käthe Kollwitz was no stranger to change. Born in 1867, she witnessed seismic political, societal, and economic shifts under three regimes: the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich. She experienced the trauma of two world wars, losing her youngest son in World War I, and her grandson and Berlin home in World War II. She died in April 1945, shortly before the war ended. As an artist, Kollwitz believed it was her duty to picture the loss, injustice, and poverty that these significant transformations brought upon the German working class. Activism played out through her works, as Kollwitz cast light on the plight and suffering of the disenfranchised.
Change also came to define Kollwitz’s approach to printmaking. Both a perfectionist and problem solver, she never shied away from the challenge of drastically reworking a composition. She was open to switching from one printmaking medium to another, and even willing to reject a work completely—only to begin again. Kollwitz was largely self-taught and highly experimental in how she approached traditional techniques, especially in her complex layering of etching processes on a single plate.
Change also came to define Kollwitz’s approach to printmaking. Both a perfectionist and problem solver, she never shied away from the challenge of drastically reworking a composition. She was open to switching from one printmaking medium to another, and even willing to reject a work completely—only to begin again. Kollwitz was largely self-taught and highly experimental in how she approached traditional techniques, especially in her complex layering of etching processes on a single plate.
