Edited with text by Starr Figura. Text by Kirsty Bell, Maggie Hire, Dorothy Price, Sarah Rapoport.
An extraordinary gathering of rare drawings, prints and sculptures focusing on themes of motherhood, grief and resistance
In the early 20th century, when many artists were experimenting with abstraction by way of colorful painting, Käthe Kollwitz remained committed to an art of social purpose through figurative, black-and-white printmaking and drawing. Through her work, she brought visibility to the hardships of the working class and asserted the female point of view as a necessary and powerful agent for change. Published in conjunction with the largest exhibition of her work in the United States in more than 30 years, and the first major retrospective devoted to Kollwitz at a New York museum, this book surveys the artist’s career from the 1890s through the early 1940s. It features approximately 120 drawings, prints and sculptures drawn from public and private collections in Europe and North America. Examples of the artist’s most iconic projects showcase her political engagement, while rarely seen studies and working proofs highlight her intensive, ever-searching creative process. Essays explore crucial aspects of Kollwitz’s art, career and legacy, including her professional life and connections in Berlin, her groundbreaking approach to the subject of women’s grief and her work’s reception among artists in the US. Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was born in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). One of history’s most outstanding graphic artists, she was widely recognized for her art of social advocacy and compassion and was one of the few women artists of the early 20th century to achieve international renown in her own lifetime.
PRAISE AND REVIEWS
The New York Times: Arts
Aruna D'Souza
Käthe Kollwitz’s fierce belief in social justice and her indelible images made her one of Germany’s best printmakers. A dazzling MoMA show reminds us why.
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“Woman with Dead Child,” state IV/X (1903), is from Käthe Kollwitz: A Retrospective, published to accompany the exhibition on view now at MoMA. Surely years in the making, this gut-punching gathering of rare drawings, prints and sculptures centered on motherhood, grief and resistance could not be more perfectly timed for those of us who are struggling to comprehend or even live with the turmoil and anguish of today’s military, social and political conflicts around the world and at home. (Read Aruna D’Souza’s recent review in The New York Times for more on this.) In the exhibition catalog, curator Starr Figura writes, “The five decades during which [Kollwitz] was professionally active were some of the most volatile in German history. From the 1890s through the early 1940s, as the country lurched from the upheavals of industrialization through the traumas of two world wars, she dedicated her art to advocating for those whose burdens were the most acute and underrecognized. ‘I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate,’ she wrote. ‘It is my duty to voice the sufferings of people, which are never-ending and as large as a mountain.’” continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 9 x 10.5 in. / 248 pgs / 200 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $65.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $95 ISBN: 9781633451612 PUBLISHER: The Museum of Modern Art, New York AVAILABLE: 4/23/2024 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Edited with text by Starr Figura. Text by Kirsty Bell, Maggie Hire, Dorothy Price, Sarah Rapoport.
An extraordinary gathering of rare drawings, prints and sculptures focusing on themes of motherhood, grief and resistance
In the early 20th century, when many artists were experimenting with abstraction by way of colorful painting, Käthe Kollwitz remained committed to an art of social purpose through figurative, black-and-white printmaking and drawing. Through her work, she brought visibility to the hardships of the working class and asserted the female point of view as a necessary and powerful agent for change.
Published in conjunction with the largest exhibition of her work in the United States in more than 30 years, and the first major retrospective devoted to Kollwitz at a New York museum, this book surveys the artist’s career from the 1890s through the early 1940s. It features approximately 120 drawings, prints and sculptures drawn from public and private collections in Europe and North America. Examples of the artist’s most iconic projects showcase her political engagement, while rarely seen studies and working proofs highlight her intensive, ever-searching creative process. Essays explore crucial aspects of Kollwitz’s art, career and legacy, including her professional life and connections in Berlin, her groundbreaking approach to the subject of women’s grief and her work’s reception among artists in the US.
Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) was born in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia). One of history’s most outstanding graphic artists, she was widely recognized for her art of social advocacy and compassion and was one of the few women artists of the early 20th century to achieve international renown in her own lifetime.
