The Widow I

It seems we have a week full of women artists. <3  We are very happy about that!

In 1914, at the age of 18, Kollwitz's son Peter was killed at the Front. This is one of seven woodcuts from Käthe Kollwitz’s War portfolio. Collectively they epitomize the powerfully emotive imagery for which Kollwitz, widely acknowledged as one of the great graphic artists and printmakers of German expressionism, is known. 

The portfolio was published in 1924, ten years after the outbreak of hostilities and six years into their tumultuous aftermath. The portfolio's seven woodcuts focus on the sorrows of those left behind—mothers, widows, and children. Kollwitz had struggled to find the appropriate means of expression until she saw an exhibition of Ernst Barlach's woodcuts in 1920. Revising each print through as many as nine preparatory drawings and states, Kollwitz radically simplified the compositions. The large-format, stark black-and-white woodcuts feature women left to face their grief and fears alone, with their partners, or with each other.

P.S. Here's the whole article on Käthe Kollwitz, Germany’s greatest female artist!