Käthe Kollwitz

Seated Woman

Draft for rejected version of Not (Need), sheet 1 from the cycle Ein Weberaufstand (A Weavers’ Revolt)

circa 1894

 

Charcoal drawing

 

Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin

 

This early sketch for what would later become the first sheet of the cycle A Weavers’ Revolt, entitled Need, makes it clear that Käthe Kollwitz wanted to focus on the misery of women and children from the outset in her artistic interpretation of the historical material.

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Käthe Kollwitz

Need
Rejected version of plate 1 from the cycle A Weavers’ Revolt
1893–1897

Etching, drypoint, aquatint, and sanding process in black on copperplate paper, reworked with pencil and black chalk

 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

 

The woman’s gesture clearly expresses the desperate situation of the family. The lighting particularly emphasizes the faces of the female figure in the background with the child in her arms

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Käthe Kollwitz

Need
Rejected version of plate 1 from the cycle A Weavers’ Revolt
1893–1897

Etching, drypoint, aquatint, sanding process, partially reworked in pencil on copperplate paper

 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

 

The woman is clearly highlighted by the lighting, while the man is depicted merely as a dark silhouette.

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Käthe Kollwitz

March of the Weavers, 1893–1897
Line etching and sandpaper

Storming the Gate, 1893–1897
Line etching and sandpaper

End, 1893–1897
Line etching, aquatint, sandpaper and burnisher

Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin

 

 

Sheets 4 to 6 of the cycle “A Weaver’s Revolt”

The tavern scene with a “Conspiracy” (sheet 3) is set in motion, as indicated by the dynamic diagonal line from the left rear to the right front. The continuation of the action in the fourth sheet, “The Weavers’ March,” also develops along this diagonal. The climax and turning point of the plot is reached in sheet 5 with the ‘storming’ of the factory owner’s villa. It reaches its tragic “end” in sheet 6, also in a reversal of the previous direction of movement, with the deaths of the weavers’ revolt.

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Käthe Kollwitz

Need, 1893–1897
Crayon and brush lithography, scraper and scraper needle

Death, 1893–1897
Crayon, pen and brush lithography, scraper and scraper needle

Conspiracy, 1893–1897
Crayon lithography, scraper and scraper needle

Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin

 

Sheets 1 to 3 of the cycle “A Weavers’ Revolt”

Käthe Kollwitz constructed her series “A Weavers’ Revolt” using a dramatic structure similar to that of a play, even though the sequence of images does not follow the classic five-act structure of theater. The artist depicts the weavers’ miserable situation in two sheets (“Need,” “Death”) – just as Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946) dedicates two acts to it, also in an anti-classical manner. It is important to both artists to evoke sympathy in the audience for the plight of the weavers.

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Käthe Kollwitz

Four Men in a Pub

1892–1897

 

Etching, line etching, drypoint, and emery

 

Ute Kahl Collection, Cologne

 

This scene is probably an initial draft for “The Consultation” on sheet 3 of the cycle “A Weavers’ Revolt.” Whereas the conspiratorial nature of the gathering was illustrated there by long shadows, here it is suggested by the backlighting of the scene.

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Käthe Kollwitz

Death

Preliminary study for sheet 2 from the cycle A Weavers’ Revolt

1897

 

Pen and brush in ink over pencil, retouched in places with opaque white and pastel, on wove paper

 

Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne

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Emil Orlik

Die Weber (The Weavers) by G. Hauptmann

Poster for the production at the Großes Schauspielhaus Berlin, 1921

Reprint of the 1897 poster

 

Crayon and ink lithography

 

German Historical Museum Foundation, Berlin

 

The poster was designed by Emil Orlik (1870–1932) in 1897 for a reading from the Weavers drama that took place in Prague. It was reused in 1921 to advertise a new production of the Weavers drama at the Große Schauspielhaus. Käthe Kollwitz had also seen this production and was almost as enthralled by it as she had been by the premiere in 1893.

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Käthe Kollwitz

Uprising

1899

 

Etching, drypoint, aquatint, brush etching, emery, and some roulette in black and red on copperplate paper

 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

 

This etching represents the artist’s first engagement with the theme of the German Peasants’ War of 1524/25, to which she later devoted a cycle. Like Gerhart Hauptmann (1862–1946) for his drama, Kollwitz also states that her source for this was Wilhelm Zimmermann’s (1807–1878) historical treatise.

The question arises as to whether she was not inspired to deal with the subject by the premiere of Florian Geyer in 1896. A comparison with Corinth’s watercolor reveals two defining elements that are found in both Corinth’s and Kollwitz’s works: the flag and the fire.

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Lovis Corinth

Rudolf Rittner as Florian Geyer

circa 1915

 

Watercolor and black chalk, heightened with opaque white

 

Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett

 

The actor Rudolf Rittner (1869–1943) played the title role in the new production of Hauptmann’s Peasant War drama Florian Geyer at the Lessingtheater in Berlin in 1904. The stage design and costumes were by the painter Max Slevogt (1868–1932). Rittner was known to Käthe Kollwitz as Moritz Jäger from the premiere of “The Weavers.” Lovis Corinth (1858–1925) was so impressed by the actor that he depicted him several times in the costume and pose of Florian Geyer.

There is evidence that the artist was familiar with Hauptmann’s play. However, we do not know whether she saw it on stage, and it has not yet been investigated whether it had any influence on her cycle on the Peasants’ War. Kollwitz herself rejected belles-lettres as a source for her work.

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