Käthe Kollwitz
Full-length self-portrait, seated
1893
Pen and ink, washed on handmade paper
Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne
Like many young artists, Käthe Kollwitz liked to use herself as a model, studying her posture and the effect of her facial expressions and gestures in front of a mirror. However, this detailed study of the female figure in the 1893 etching also has a personal touch. Kollwitz is said to have told her friend, the painter Otto Nagel (1894–1967), that the work was created after her first marital dispute with her husband Karl.