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Last updated: 4-14-08
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Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867-1945): The Peasants' War

"Käthe Kollwitz and German Expressionism" features over fifty works by Käthe Kollwitz plus additional works by Ernst Barlach, Max Beckmann, Heinrich Campendonck, Marc Chagall, Lovis Corinth, Otto Dix, Conrad Felixmuller, Hans Fronius, Georg Grosz, Erich Heckel, Hannah Hoch, Karl Hofer, Wassily Kandinsky, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, Ludwig Meidner, Edvard Munch, Heinrich Nauen, Emile Nolde, Max Pechstein, Georges Rouault, Rudolf Schlichter, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, Siegfried Schott, Georg Tappert, Wilhelm Wagner, and others. (Look for additional images to be added as time permits; all works are available for purchase unless otherwise indicated.)

Kollwitz: Introductory / Kollwitz Self Portraits / Kollwitz 2: Weavers' revolt / Kollwitz 3: Mothers
Kollwitz 4: Tragedies / Kollwitz 5: Women / Kollwitz 6: Women 2 / Kollwitz 7: Peasants' War / Kollwitz 8: Men
Shortly after completing The Revolt of the Weavers, Kollwitz began a second series exploring the mistreatment of the oppressed, their growing resentment and outrage, their attempts to right the wrongs done them, and their ultimate destruction. Kollwitz began this new large-size series in 1903 with the moment of the Outbreak of the revolt and completed the seven large etchings that make up the series in 1908. The result is one of the most powerful graphic series in the history of Western Art.
Aufruhr / Revolt (Kl. 44 viii). Original etching and aquatint, 1899. printed by von der Becke (with his dry stamp). This is one of Kollwitz's most famous prints, showing the spirit of revolution hovering in the air over an army of protesters. It is one of her most frequently illustrated works. A very rich and clear impression with sharp detail even in the shadows (note the flames coming out of the castle upper left). Image size: 295x315mm. Price: SOLD
Aufruhr / Revolt (Kl. 44 viii). Original etching and aquatint, 1899. printed by von der Becke (with his dry stamp). This is one of Kollwitz's most famous prints, showing the spirit of revolution hovering in the air over an army of protesters. It is also one of her most frequently illustrated works. Ours is a very rich and clear impression with sharp detail even in the shadows. The flames are almost gone, but a column of smoke can be seen rising at the top left margin. With von der Becke's 3-line Berlin-Halensee stamp lower right just below where the still visible inscription of the 1921 Richter edition cn be seen, Image size: 295x315mm. Price: $1800.
Aufruhr / Revolt (Kl. 44 viii). Original etching and aquatint, 1899. printed by von der Becke (with his dry stamp). This is one of Kollwitz's most most famous prints, showing the spirit of revolution hovering in the air over an army of protesters. It is one of her most frequently illustrated works. There are later impressions in black on white paper and brownish-red ink (of which this is one) on cream colored papers. The plate no longer shows the fire and smoke from the burning castle, but the spirit of revolution and the onrushing crowd still print very well. Image size: 295x315mm. Price: $1600.
Plowing (Kl. 94 ix b). Original etching and aquatint, 1906. Edition: Our impression from the von der Becke edition with his blindstamp. Plate 1 of The Peasants' War. The plate has been destroyed. Signed in the plate. One of Kollwitz' most important woks, it is frequently illustrated in books, including those by Zigrosser, Hinz, Fecht, and the Kleins. The image depicts a peasant almost horizontal with the effort required to pull the plow, taking the place of a missing ox. Image size: 312x440mm. Price: $1950.
Vergewaltigt / Raped (Kl. 97 vi a/viii, Knesebeck VIb of VIII). Original etching, softground, sandpaper, drypoint, & aquatint, 1907. Edition: Richter edition of 1921 with the date 1921 in the right corner before the engraved script at the bottom added for the 1924 Richter edition. Very good impression with plate-tone printed in brown ink on copperplate paper. There were 200 mpressions signed in pencil. Plate 2 of The Peasants' War. There are no posthumous reprints. It is easy to overlook the body, covered in blood, and lying in pools of it, which seems to have faded back into the earth from which it came and which could therefore be treated like dirt. In Kollwitz' visual narrative, it is this rape that provokes the peasants to rebel. Kollwitz said of this print in a 1908 letter to Georg Stolterforth, "It is just finished. It is an abducted woman, who after the devastation of her cottage is left lying in the herb garden, while her child, who had run away, looks over the fence." Image size: 412x529mm. Price: $8500.
Bein Dengeln / Sharpening the scythe (Kl. 90 x / xii b, Knesebeck 88 XIb/XIVc). Original etching, drypopint, sandpaper, aquatint, and soft ground, 1905. Edition: Printed by Otto Felsing and published by Richter in 1921. Engraved lower right corner: "Druck von O. Felsing, Berlin S.W." with the added engraved annotation "1921" lower right. Plate 3 of The Peasants' War series. Remains of old tape on the reverse. A brilliant impression of one of Kollwitz' most famous images: a peasant sharpening his scythe and dreaming of revenge. Image size: 298x298mm. Price: $3200.
Bein Dengeln / Sharpening the scythe (Kl. 90, Knesebeck 88 XIVc/XIVc). Original etching, drypopint, sandpaper, aquatint, and soft ground, 1905. Edition: Published between 1963 and 1972 on soft thick vellum with von der Becke's Munich emboossed seal. Plate 3 of The Peasants' War series. A brilliant impression of one of Kollwitz' most famous images: a peasant sharpening his scythe and dreaming of revenge. Image size: 298x298mm. Price: $2600.
Losbruch / Charge (Kl. 66, Knesebeck 70 XIIIb). Original etching, drypoint, aquatint, and softground, 1902/03. Edition: printed between 1963/65 and 1972 in brown ink by von der Becke (with his 2-line Munich dry stamp). Signed "K. Kollwitz" in the plate lower right and dated 1902. Dated 1921 in the extreme lower ight corner. Illustrated Zigrosser, pl. 19. In a letter of 1902, Kollwitz wrote about Losbruch, "I consider this Peasants' War print to be my best work and I am rather happy about it." This is one of Kollwitz' most important etchings. We also have this image available in black ink. (In Plate 4 of the series, which, alas, we do not have, the peasants are shown arming themselves in secret.) Image size: 513x587mm. Price: $2800.
Schlachtfeld / After the battle (Klipstein 96 x/xii; Knesebeck 100 xii/xv). Original etching, drypoint, sandpaper, softground, & aquatint, with the imprint of ribbed laid paper, 1907. With the date 1921 in the right corner. Extremely good impression with plate-tone printed in green-black ink. Plate 6 of The Peasants' War series. Signed in pencil. One of Kollwitz' most famous images: a woman, checking the fallen with a lantern, searching for her loved ones after the battle. Ours is a rich and brilliant impression of the second edition of 200 impressions printed by Richter and signed by Kollwitz in the lower right corner under the image. There is a repaired puncture at the very bottom of the sheet at the extreme right far from the platemark. Image size: 412x529mm. Price: SOLD.
Die Gefangenen / The Prisoners (Kl. 98 Vb, Knesebeck 102 VI/X). Original etching and softground, 1908. This impression is from the edition printed in 1921 by Emil Richter, with the engraved date "1921" in the lower right corner of the composition; there were a total of 200 proofs in brown as part of this edition. Signed "Käthe Kollwitz" in the lower right corner. This is Plate 7 of Kollwitz' Peasants' War cycle. The defeated prisoners have been herded together for punishment and execution. One of her most frequently exhibited prints. Ours is a brilliant, sharp impression signed by Kollwitz lower right. Image size: 327x423mm. Price: SOLD.
Die Gefangenen / The Prisoners (Kl. 98 VIIIb, Knesebeck 102 IXb /X). Original etching and softground, 1908. Edition: published after 1931 by Von der Becke with his drystamp, this is Plate 7 of Kollwitz' Peasants' War cycle. The defeated prisoners have been herded together for punishment and execution. One of her most frequently exhibited prints. Image size: 327x423mm. Price: $2000.
Inspiration (Kl. 91, Knesebeck 86 VIIc/X). Original etching, 1905. Edition: designed for The Peasants' War cycle, but not included. Before the engraved script of the 1921 Richter edition and before the row of nearly vertical lines at the middle section of the lower plate edge of the 1946/48 Von der Becke editions. Apparently a proof from the 1918 Richter edition. Printed by Felsing. This is one of Kollwitz' most powerful etchings (but so are so many others!). Image size: 567x297mm. Price: $3650.
Inspiration (Kl. 91 ix/ix, Knesebeck 86 X/X). Original etching, 1905. Edition: designed for The Peasants' War cycle, but not included. Printed by Von der Becke (with his dry stamp). This is one of Kollwitz' most powerful etchings (but so are so many others!). Image size: 567x297mm. Price: $2750.

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