Käthe Kollwitz Research Paper

Käthe Kollwitz was born on 8th July 1867 in Kaliningrad, Russia. Her father, Karl Schmidt, studied law, but because of his political and social views he never worked as a lawyer. He was a stone mason and house builder. Her mother, Katharina, was the daughter of Julius Rupp, the leader of the Free Congregation. By religion and socialism lessons her grandfather strongly influenced her education. Her parents were encouraging their children in political and social life.
When she was twelve years old, her father encourage her to take lessons in copying plaster casts and drawing. At the age of sixteen she applied to the Königsberg Academy of Art, because she was a female her application wasn’t accepted. Kollwitz’s earliest drawings represent hard working people during their
Kollwitz spent five years producing the series. The lithographs were an expression of the people’s courage, misery, and hope. The etchings were present to the public in 1898, and receive positive reviews. Kollwitz was nominated by Adolf Menzel, who was considered the most important artist in the country, for the gold medal of the Große Deutsche Kunstausstellung in Berlin. Even though, the work wasn’t approved by Kaiser Wilhelm II, The Revolt of the Weavers was awarded with the gold medal year later by the King of Saxony.
Kollwitz's next most important series of drawings was the Peasant War; she was working on them from 1902 to 1908. That work confirmed how imported artist Kollwitz was in Europe. In 1909 she produced a series of five drawings called Portraits of Misery, the charcoal drawings presents her husband's