Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Humanities

First Advisor

Carrasco, Malena

Keywords

Kollwitz, Käthe, Motherhood, Death, Loss

Area of Concentration

Art History

Abstract

Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945) created imagery of maternal loss that was a radical departure from the sentimental and tender depictions of motherhood that were common in the late nineteenth century. Kollwitz’s imagery of maternal loss is compelling for her portrayal of the suffering a mother experiences at the loss of a child. Though her imagery has its roots in the Christian tradition of the Pietà, or Mary mourning the dead Christ, Kollwitz removes it from the religious realm and suspends the mother and dead child in time and place. I examine what factors enabled Kollwitz’s radically different imagery of maternal loss. I find that Kollwitz’s early years exposed her to death. Her mother lost at least one infant when Kollwitz was a child, and infant mortality remained a concern for mothers when Kollwitz was raising her sons Hans and Peter in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Kollwitz’s imagery of maternal loss coincides with the women’s movement in Germany. Debates regarding a mother’s role and who ought to be a mother instigated an interest in maternal behavior. At the same time, industrialization in Germany contributed to health problems in cities like Berlin, where Kollwitz lived. Kollwitz’s husband, Karl, was a doctor who treated mainly working class patients, which meant that Kollwitz was privy to the plight of the working class mothers and children. I also look at the work of Kollwitz’s contemporaries, like Paula Modersohn Becker, Egon Schiele, and Edvard Munch, in order to accentuate the uniqueness of Kollwitz’s imagery. Her imagery’s uniqueness comes from the profound grief with which she depicts a mother losing a child. I find that Kollwitz’s imagery defies a simple explanation, rather it is the product of a preoccupation with death (which was present throughout Kollwitz’s life), influenced by debates in the women’s movement and iconographic precedents.

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