The Parents (Die Eltern) from War (Krieg)

Fritz Voigt|Emil Richter, Dresden|Käthe Kollwitz

1921–22 · Woodcut · Drawings and Prints

"Pain," Kollwitz noted, "is totally dark." This raw image portrays the profound grief of parents who, like the artist, lost a child to war. The two kneeling figures join together and cover their faces in agony; the lack of detail makes the image applicable to parental bereavement during other wars as well. Kollwitz began working in this medium after seeing an exhibition of woodcuts by Ernst Barlach and being inspired by their graphic power; the War series is considered her most important in the technique. Kollwitz spent fifteen years working on a sculpture based on this print. The Grieving Parents, located in the cemetery for German soldiers in western Belgium where her son Peter is buried, is composed of two separate sculptures, showing the parents isolated in their despair.

Artist

Fritz Voigt|Emil Richter, Dresden|Käthe Kollwitz

Date

1921–22

Medium

Woodcut

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Bertha and Isaac Liberman Foundation Gift, 2017