The Widow II (Die Witwe II)

Käthe Kollwitz

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Created in the wake of her son’s death on the battlefield in Flanders during World War I, the prints from Käthe Kollwitz’s War (Krieg) portfolio chronicle the personal costs of combat, removing contextual and narrative details of time and place in favor of a more universal cycle of loss and mourning. The devastating toll of war on poor and working-class families was a central theme of Kollwitz’s work, and printmaking enabled her to reach wide audiences with her socialist political messages. Her poignant combination of raw expression and barbed ideology continues to resonate with contemporary realities of war and struggle worldwide.

Caption

Käthe Kollwitz German, 1867–1945. The Widow II (Die Witwe II), 1922–1923. Woodcut in black ink on beige, moderately thick, smooth, wove paper, image: 11 7/8 × 20 7/8 in. (30.2 × 53 cm) sheet: 18 3/4 × 25 3/4 in. (47.6 × 65.4 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Carll H. de Silver Fund, 44.201.5. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 44.201.5_bw_IMLS.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

European Art

Title

The Widow II (Die Witwe II)

Date

1922–1923

Geography

Place made: Germany

Medium

Woodcut in black ink on beige, moderately thick, smooth, wove paper

Classification

Print

Dimensions

image: 11 7/8 × 20 7/8 in. (30.2 × 53 cm) sheet: 18 3/4 × 25 3/4 in. (47.6 × 65.4 cm)

Signatures

Signed, "Kathe Kollowitz" in pencil, lower right margin

Inscriptions

Lower left in graphite: "88/100"; lower right in graphite: " Bl. 5 zn Folge: Krieg/Die Witwe"; lower right in graphite: "Käthe Kollwitz"

Credit Line

Carll H. de Silver Fund

Accession Number

44.201.5

Rights

© artist or artist's estate

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