Käthe Kollwitz: Germany's Greatest Female Artist

Käthe Kollwitz (1867–1945) stands out as the sole female artist featured in Ernst Gombrich's The Story of Art. In 1920, she made history by becoming the first woman to join the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin. Dedicated museums in Berlin, Cologne, and Moritzburg celebrate her legacy. Originally named Käthe Schmidt and born in Königsberg (now Kaliningrad), she married Karl Kollwitz in 1891 and had two sons, Hans and Peter. Transitioning from painting to printmaking, she gained recognition through her works on the Silesian Weavers' Uprising (1844) and the German Peasants' War. A devoted pacifist, her art often illustrated the horrors of war and the plight of the impoverished in Berlin. After her son Peter perished in WWI in 1914, her sculpture The Grieving Parents was created to honor him in Vladslo, Belgium. In 1932, she joined Albert Einstein in signing the "Urgent Call to Unity" against the Nazis. Her expulsion from the Academy in 1933 led to a decline in her artistic output. Following her husband's death in 1940 and the loss of a grandson named Peter in WWII, she was evacuated in 1943, spending her remaining years in Moritzburg. Today, the Käthe Kollwitz Prize recognizes contemporary German artists, while Kollwitzplatz in Berlin features a statue by Gustav Seitz. The Käthe Kollwitz Museum in Berlin houses over 200 of her works, including the enlarged sculpture Mother with her Dead Son at the Neue Wache memorial, a poignant symbol of grief and the futility of war.