The People (Das Volk)

1922/1923

Käthe Kollwitz

Associated Names
Käthe Kollwitz

Artist, German, 1867 - 1945

The image depicts a dark composition featuring parts of multiple figures emerging from a black background. In the upper section, three heads with strikingly expressionistic carvings are visible. The first head on the left is partly visible, showing the side of a face defined by harsh, white-angled lines. The central head has a full, expressionless face, with stark, hatched lines creating depth. The head on the right has an exaggerated, almost grotesque expression, with jagged lines simulating intense features and disheveled hair. Below the heads, a hand appears in the lower center, palm facing upward, drawn in sharp lines reflecting light and shadow. Beside it, another part of a hand is visible on the right, outlined in a similar bold linear style. The background is entirely dark, emphasizing the contrast with the white lines of the figures.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    woodcut touched with opaque white watercolor and black wash on wove paper

  • Credit Line

    Rosenwald Collection

  • Dimensions

    image: 36 × 30 cm (14 3/16 × 11 13/16 in.)
    sheet: 41.6 × 35.3 cm (16 3/8 × 13 7/8 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1943.3.5278

  • Catalogue Raisonné

    Klipstein 1955, no. 183, State i/v

  • Series Title

    Plate 7 from War (Krieg)


Artwork history & notes

Exhibition History

1992

  • Käthe Kollwitz, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1992, no. 85, reproduced p. 59.

Bibliography

1955

  • Klipstein, August. The Graphic Work of Kathe Kollwitz. New York: Galerie St. Etienne, 1955.

2002

  • Knesebeck, Alexandra von dem. Käthe Kollwitz. Werkverzeichnis der Graphik. 2 vols. Bern: Kornfeld, 2002.

Inscriptions

recto: below image at right in graphite: Kollwitz; at bottom left in graphite in later hand: 1 Zust. / 5 "Das Volk"; verso: at bottom right in graphite in later hand: 33-3507; at bottom left in graphite in later hand: Das Volk 1. Zustand"

Markings

recto: none; verso: National Gallery of Art

Watermarks

none

Wikidata ID

Q65022795

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