Death, Mother and Child

1910

Käthe Kollwitz

Associated Names
Käthe Kollwitz

Artist, German, 1867 - 1945

This is a drawing of two people in an intimate close-up. A woman appears to be lying down with a child positioned closely above her, their foreheads and noses pressed closely together. The woman's hands are wrapped around the child's chin and the back of their head, holding them close. Both the woman and child have closed eyes. The child appears to have short hair, while the woman's dark hair is visible on the right, blending into the dark shading of the background. Their clothing is dark and indistinct. On the left is a pale shape that appears almost like a third person in profile, facing the right, wearing a hooded cloak. However, where this person's face would be is an indistinct oval with no features except for a horizontal line in the middle, similar to a large, closed eye or a cartoonish smile on a blank face.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    charcoal on laid Ingres paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 48 x 63.3 cm (18 7/8 x 24 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1951.16.60

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Nagel 1972, no. 605


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Estate of the artist. Lessing J.Rosenwald; gift 1951 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1992

  • Käthe Kollwitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, no. 68, reproduced p. 51.

2024

  • Käthe Kollwitz: A Retrospective, Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2024, no. 72, repro.

Bibliography

1959

  • Bittner, Herbert. Kaethe Kollwitz Drawings. New York, 1959: 59.

1972

  • Nagel, Otto. The Drawings of Kathe Kollwitz. New York: Galerie St. Etienne; Crown Publishers, 1972.

1994

  • The World's My Oyster: A Celebration of Kathe Kollwitz, 1994, vol. 1,no. 3.

2024

  • Figura, Starr, and Hire, Maggie. _ Käthe Kollwitz: A Retrospective_. Exh. cat. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 2024: 153, no. 72.

Inscriptions

lower right in graphite: Kathe Kollwitz

Watermarks

MBM (FRANCE) INGRES D'ARCHES

Wikidata ID

Q64591953

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