Käthe Kollwitz and the women of war
Subtitle: femininity, identity, and art in Germany during World Wars I and II
By: edited by Claire C. Whitner
Contributors: Whitner, Claire C., editor, organizer, writer of added commentary; Davis Museum and Cultural Center; Smith College. Museum of Art
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 143
ISBN-13: 9780300219999
Subjects: In art; World War, 1914-1918; Exhibitions; Art and the war; German Art; World War, 1939-1945; Motherhood in art; Themes, motives
Other titles: Femininity, identity, and art in Germany during World Wars I and II
Work titles: Works
Description: The art of German printmaker and sculptor Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is famously empathetic; Kollwitz imbued her prints, drawings, and sculpture with eloquent and often painful commentary on the human condition, especially the horrors of war. This insightful book, the first English-language catalogue on Kollwitz in more than two decades, offers the singular opportunity to examine her work against the tumultuous backdrop of World Wars I and II. The societal cost of war became an enduring subject for Kollwitz after her youngest son died on the battlefield in Flanders in 1914. She dedicated much of the remainder of her career to creating images that questioned the efficacy of war, exposed its devastation, and promoted peace. The essays discuss the motifs she developed in this pursuit--young widows, grieving parents alongside maternal figures that serve as defenders, guardians, activists, and mourners-within the context of German visual culture from 1914 to 1945.
Notes: "Published in conjunction with the exhibitions The Krieg Cycle: Käthe Kollwitz and World War I, 16 September-13 December 2015 at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, curated by Claire C. Whitner; and Mothers' Arms: Käthe Kollwitz's Women and War at the Smith College Museum of Art, 29 January-29 May 2016, curated by Henriëtte Kets de Vries"--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references.
Table of contents: title: Directors' Foreword  -- Lisa Fischman and Jessica Nicoll; title: Editor's Foreword  -- Claire C. Whitner; title: Mothers' Arms :; title: Käthe Kollwitz's Women and War  -- Henriëtte Kets de Vries; title: "They were all deceived" : Art, Women, and Propaganda in the  Life and Work of Käthe Kollwitz  -- Joseph McVeigh; title: Käthe Kollwitz and "Boasting Virility" at Smith College's Museum of Art  -- Darcy C. Buerkle -- Plates; title: Käthe Kollwitz and the "Krieg" Cycle : The Genesis, Creation, and Legacy of an Iconic Print Series  -- Claire C. Whitner; title: "Enough have died! No more shall perish!" : Käthe Kollwitz and World War I  -- Annette Seeler; Claire C. Whitner, translator; title: Grief Reserved for the Mother : Käthe Kollwitz's Krieg Cycle and Gender in the Weimar Republic  -- Anjeana K. Hans; title: Works Cited --; title: Checklists.