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Collections

Käthe Kollwitz
Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht1919-1920

Not on view
Woodcut print in stark black and white; a crowd of mourners surrounds a bier, one figure bowing with hands pressed to the surface; German inscription along the bottom
Artist or Maker
Käthe Kollwitz
Germany, 1867-1945
Publisher
Emil Richter Verlag
Germany, Dresden 1890-1930
Printer
Fritz Voigt
Berlin, Germany
Title
Memorial Sheet for Karl Liebknecht
Place Made
Germany
Date Made
1919-1920
Medium
Woodcut
Dimensions
Image: 14 13/16 x 20 3/16 in. (37.62 x 51.28 cm); Sheet: 17 13/16 x 22 5/8 in. (45.24 x 57.47 cm)
Credit Line
The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies
Accession Number
M.82.287.35
Classification
Prints
Collecting Area
Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies
Curatorial Notes

This woodcut commemorates the death of the early Communist leader Karl Liebknecht, who was murdered along with his colleague, Rosa Luxemburg, by right- wing paramilitary forces during the revolution that followed Germany’s defeat in World War I. Käthe Kollwitz labored to create an image that would appropriately memorialize Liebknecht, sketching a study of his face in death and creating multiple versions of the print in different media before finally settling on woodcut for its graphic impact. Liebknecht is not the focus of the final print; instead, Kollwitz draws our attention to the faces of his poor and working-class mourners. She would return to the expressive medium of woodcut to create the portfolio Sieben Holzschnitte zum Krieg (Seven Woodcuts on the War), two of which are on view here, in remembrance of her son Peter, who was killed in action.


Exhibition Label: Women’s Work: Art by Women in Germany, 1900–1933, 2021, Erin Maynes.

Selected Bibliography

  • Davis, Bruce. German Expressionist Prints and Drawings: The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1989; Munich, Germany: Prestel, 1989.

  • Klipstein, August. Käthe Kollwitz : Verzeichnis des graphischen Werkes. Bern : Klipstein, 1955.

  • Barron, Stephanie et al., German Expressionism 1915-1925: The Second Generation. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1988.

  • Benson, Timothy O. and Andrea Gyorody. A New Generation of Creators: Selections from The Robert Gore Rifkind Center for German Expressionist Studies. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2017.
  • Kaplan, Rachel, and Erin Sullivan Maynes. Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2022.
Selected Exhibition History
  • Pressing Politics: Revolutionary Graphics from Mexico and Germany. October 29, 2022 - July 22, 2023
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

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