Loss shown in "The Parents"-Connor Adams
Artist Background
Käthe Kollwitz was a German artist and printmaker who focused the majority of her works towards social justice advocation. After her marriage to Dr. Karl Kollwitz, she was able to gain firsthand experience into the lives of those living in poverty within urban Berlin (Blumberg). Two of her most popular works are Weavers’ Revolt and Peasant’s War; both highlight similarly poverty-stricken workers, while one also touches on a rebellion. The Parents (Die Eltern) is one of seven woodcuts in War (Krieg) made by Kollwitz in the aftermath of World War I. Although Kollwitz was a non-combatant during the war, she had a son named Peter pass away in late 1914 as a soldier for Germany. These woodcuts were an expression of her grief and of her changing views towards pacifism (Käthe Kollwitz Museum). The original technique that was going to be used for this work was etching. Kollwitz then decided it was going to be done with lithography; however, she eventually opted to use the challenging woodcutting technique. Woodcutting, described as the oldest form of printmaking, involves breaking down a block of wood, in which only the top layer of wood is used to carry ink to print while the cut-down areas remain blank (The Met).
Analysis
The woodcut displays two parents who lost their child in war kneeling in shrouded darkness. As they hold each other, the woman’s face is completely buried into the man’s arm, while the man looks into the sky with a hand across his face covering it. The woman looks almost limp to the point where the man is the only thing holding her up, completely filled by the agony she feels. The man looks to be asking God why this has occurred and why this misfortune must happen to them. Even for black-and-white artwork, this work is incredibly dark, using white sparingly, practically only to show the creases of their skin and in the clothes they are wearing. It displays that in such a turbulent time of emotions, it can feel like there is no light to life and that everything is empty. The finer details of the image that could have provided context for where and when this occurred aren’t there. This could be to broaden the time of the event’s depiction, as this scene could occur in any war across history, of a family being left in shambles and agony.
Sources
Blumberg, Naomi. “Käthe Kollwitz | German Artist.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 4 July 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Kathe-Kollwitz.
“Series-War-Overview-Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln.” www.kollwitz.de, www.kollwitz.de/en/series-war-overview.
“Sheet 3-the Parents-Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln.” www.kollwitz.de, www.kollwitz.de/en/sheet-3-the-parents. (image source)
The Met. “Woodcut.” Metmuseum.org, 2021, www.metmuseum.org/about-the-met/collection-areas/drawings-and-prints/materials-and-techniques/printmaking/woodcut.