Woodcut
21 x 30 cm
“If my works remain like this in their effect, even after decades; yes, then I have achieved a great deal.” (Käthe Kollwitz, 1917)
In the centre of the picture is a raised hand. Käthe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945), who portrayed herself in this woodcut from 1924, might have just leaned her face on her hand before averting her gaze. However, the relaxed hand can be seen touching her cheek. Turning her head to one side, the dark silhouette of the left side of her face stands out only slightly against the black shoulder. The upper part of the face is contrasted by a garish, leafy white background. Just as abruptly as the white surface cuts around the body and the face, it is in turn bordered by a black surface: light and dark, black and white meet directly. The sitter’s gaze counters this intense tension with a deep calm.
The silhouette is striking and became doubly famous. The artist Ernst Barlach, a friend of Kollwitz, wrote about his figure “Der Schwebende” (1927): “The face of Käthe Kollwitz came to me in the angel without my having intended it. If I had wanted something like that, I probably would have failed.” (1928) In the course of the working process, Käthe Kollwitz revised the woodcut several times. In order to focus on the portrait, she shortened the printing block by half. She decided to discard the three-quarter figure still visible in earlier prints. Comparing the different stages of the work, what first stands out are the radical decisions Kollwitz made during this artistic process. It also becomes clear how enormously calculated and precise the artist’s work is. Details, such as the tiny stitches around the eye area, hardly noticeable at first glance, are added and create additional spatial depth.
As an important representative of expressionism, Käthe Kollwitz put her art at the service of a concrete social responsibility. With her expressive works, she drew attention to the poverty and social problems that affected society after the industrial revolution and between two world wars. And even today, her drawings tell directly of the horror of those times.
The work “Self-Portrait” toured with ifa in the exhibition “The German Woodcut in the 20th Century” from 1984 to 1991. In a monographic exhibition, prints, drawings and sculptures by Käthe Kollwitz were shown in many parts of the world between 1959 and 2009.
