German expressionist Käthe Kollwitz made striking woodcuts, etchings, and lithographs that communicated the suffering of working-class people. Kollwitz was born in 1867 in Königsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). She moved to Berlin as a young woman, establishing herself as a successful artist among mostly male peers. In 1919, she became the first woman member of the Prussian Academy of Arts.

Kollwitz experienced significant personal loss in her life, including the death of her son Peter in World War I. Her experiences with death and anguish informed her artwork, as did her ties to prominent Social Democrats. Kollwitz depicted the effects of war and poverty on working-class women.

Her compelling black-and-white prints established Kollwitz as a great European artist of the 20th century. She died in April 1945, just weeks before the end of World War II.