Ernst Stern
Figurines (costume designs) for “Das Mirakel” (The Miracle)
undated
(Directed by Max Reinhardt, premiered in London, 1911)
Ink, watercolor
Theater Studies Collection of the University of Cologne
The play “Das Mirakel,” with sets designed by Ernst Stern (1876–1954), did not premiere in Germany until 1914 at the Zirkus Busch in Berlin. Käthe Kollwitz saw the play in the same year together with her son Hans. She was apparently rather critical of pseudo-religious motifs, although one can also see reflections of some scenes in her later woodcuts.
Ernst Matray (1891–1978), who later married Kollwitz’s youngest niece (stage name Maria Solveg), danced the role of the shady minstrel in “Das Mirakel.”