Kathe Kollwitz

About The Artist

Käthe Kollwitz, 1867-1945. Painter sculptor was born Käthe Schmidt in Germany. She studied at the Berlin School for Female Artists. She married Dr. Karl Kollwitz in 1891, and had two children. Women could not start a successful career easily then. In 1893, the jury of the Great Berlin Art Exhibition rejected her work. Six years later Käthe Kollwitz entered the Berlin Secession.

In 1903, she began to work on her “Peasants’ War” cycle and then moved to Paris, where she studied at the Academy of Julian. Kollwitz met famous sculptor August Rodin. In 1910, she created her first sculptural works. After the war, she was appointed to the Prussian Art Academy until 1933. Her important woodcut “Memorial to Karl Liebknecht” was created in 1921.

Kollwitz participated in the 1st exhibition of German art in the Soviet Union in 1924. In 1936, after the Nazis came into power, she was not allowed to exhibit her works anymore. During 1939, all of her works were removed from the museums and galleries.