Beyond Sensual Truth K�the Kollwitz's Reconstruction of Maternity in Art

Date of Award

2004

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Carrasco, Magdalena

Keywords

Motherhood, K�the Kollwitz, Art History

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

As witness to a series of historic upheavals in her nation's history, Kollwitz depicted the most painful extremes of motherhood, particularly the loss of children to famine, poverty, and war. In doing so Kollwitz reconstructed the way motherhood was conceived in Western art, by portraying a dark side of the traditionally glorified image of motherhood. She challenged the patriarchal view of motherhood handed down to her by centuries of European tradition, from medieval and Renaissance renderings of the Madonna and Child, to the theories of Enlightenment thinkers such as Rousseau, and used her talents to show motherhood from the vantage point of the woman. Her goal in doing so was twofold: Kollwitz used her art to explore her deepest personal reactions to her sometimes-tragic experience of motherhood, and also sought to use her images as instruments of social betterment and change. Her work is at once a profoundly personal testament of her life and times, and a powerful statement against the waste of youth and life in warfare.

Rights

This bibliographic record is available under the Creative Commons CC0 public domain dedication. The New College of Florida, as creator of this bibliographic record, has waived all rights to it worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighboring rights, to the extent allowed by law.

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