German Expression Artists: Analysis of The Artwork “Widow II” by Käthe Kollwitz

Introduction

The artwork “Widow II” was made by Käthe Kollwitz in 1922, but it was later published in 1923. It greatly depicts and shows us that this artwork shows war and German Expressionist through the concepts of the artwork.

German Expression first started in the 1920s in Europe, it is also considered as a form of an artistic genre and it is an important cultural movement. According to German expressionism, “It is also considered as broadly defined as the rejection of Western conventions, and the depiction of reality that is widely distorted for emotional effect”. Also, during this time period it introduces a lot of new techniques eg: ( Printmaking etc.) and materials (wood and etc), and also challenges many people to try this preific style. German Expression is indeed not considered under one single style or in a perific way to be made. Many German Expressionism artists tried to convey emotions through using different elements and principles instead of using reality. All German Experrisom artists had one thing in common, they all used different ways to “express” the emotions in their artworks. The only way that they could make the artwork convey lots of emotions was through the use of distorted and exaggerated artworks. Also during this time period it influenced many German Expression artists such Vincent Van Gogh, Edvard Munch and El Greco.ejcn neincien.

The artwork Widow II reflects the world at the time because the artwork conveys a strong meaning about how German Expressionism was applied into artworks during this time, and how it changed during the time period. This artwork also relates to War and German Expressionism by deeply explaining how this artwork has portrayed each element during the war and german expressionism.

Therefore, the artwork Widow II by Käthe Kollwitz immensely conveys world events through the use of the war and German Expressionist through the concepts of the artwork. It pinpoints the most important aspects of the artwork relating to the war, german Expression through the use of lino print.

Body Paragraph 1-

The artwork reflects the world as it shows that war was occurring or had just occurred.

The Essay Question is: Explain how your chosen German Expresstonist’s artwork reflected events that were happening in the world at the time.

Topic- To start off the artwork “Widow II” reflects the world during the time of World War 1. Therefore it shows us how living in world war 1 was a time full of hardship, struggle and misery.

Explain 1-

Käthe Kollwitz has decided to portray the main focal point of the artwork “Widow II’, as a woman who seems to be laying on the floor with her face looking up. You can see that this woman’s face expresses that she is dead, or sad. It also makes us feel and wonder how dark these times must have been. The lighting is positioned on the woman’s body and her face to outline and capture her face expressions. Käthe Kollwitz has made the lighting not so obvious in the artwork. Wanted to do this so that the lighting was not too overpowering but just enough to get the main idea across. If you look closer to the artwork, you will see that there is something hiding in the shadow of the women. You will be able to pin out that there seems to be a very young child laying on the woman who is laying on the floor. She placed the child in the shadows of the women to protary how the child must have been feeling.

Explain 2-

Through the artwork “widow II” Käthe Kollwitz has shown and used many different techniques to symbolize how much people suffered for years, and how much pain that they must have felt during these times. The composition that Käthe Kollwitz has chosen to use is a ground angle composition to capture the deeper meaning across to the worldwide audience. The reason why Käthe Kollwitz has used different techniques throughout “Widow II”. Because it draws the audience in . If you pay attention to what the artwork is called Widow II it gives us a bit of information regarding the artwork. It tells that this artwork is about a woman who lost her loved one due to her death.

From research what can you find out about this artwork/artist.

19191 was the year that Käthe Kollwitz began her work and expressed how she felt through world war 1. She stated that during the war she called these times as “ unspeakably difficult years’ ‘. The real reason why Käthe Kollwinted painted this artwork “widow II” specifically was to remember the death of her son Peter who died in the Flanders battlefield during world war 1 just after he had just joined the army two months ago. A Lot of people will remember Käthe Kollwitz’s artworks as hunting and dark artworks as portrayed in her artwork. Her main force/ purpose is to highlight the devastating toll in world war 1. She also introduces poverty, diseases among both women and children through her art and other worldwide issues.

It is believed that Käthe Kollwitz was an anti- violence. She also did believe in the triumph of the human spirit. The triumph of human spirit was applied through all of

Artworks. Eg:( graphic prints, illustrations,posters and most important she also used woodcuts). The reason why she used woodcuts in her artworks was to demonstrate all of the tragic events that have happened during her time.

Link- Therefore the artwork “widow II” reflects the world by explaining and depicting all the tragic events that have occured during the time that the artwork was made. It is very clear that Käthe Kollwitz has used different elements throughout her artwork “Widow II” to persuade a deeper meaning in the art.

Body Paragraph 2

Question- The artwork reflects the world as it shows that German Expressionism was occurring in the artworld.

Topic- The artist used German Expressionist conventions of not using traditional perspective for portraiture, using disproportionate sizes and communicating emotion.

Eg: Long shadows effects were used to make the artwork “widow II” seem more dark and haunting.

Widow II also reflects all the events that were occuring during this time period.

Explain 1-

In widow II Käthe Kollwitz has displayed many different types of conventions/features and the dominant features of German Expression. Käthe Kollwitz. Eg: Käthe Kollwitz has used Long shadows effect to make the meaning behind this artwork more dark and depressing, another dominant feature that Käthe Kollwitz has used is camera set in unexpected angles to give each audience a different point of view on what they think is happening in the artwork. Käthe Kollwitz uses this style of art to persuade a dark meaning and hunting vibe to her art. She did this so people could understand how it was like during this time period.

Explain 2-

In “widow II”, I can see that Käthe Kollwitz has drawn in the audience through her use of both black and white colours. I can also see that Käthe Kollwitz has used a good mix and combinations of dominant features through her artwork “widow II”. It is used to make the artwork “widow II” look more interesting and appealing for people to see.

Throughout her artwork I’ve noticed that she uses a very low camera angle which therefore symbolises a ground angle used to capture the women’s face expressions. But it also captures the dark and hunting feeling of the time. Käthe Kollwitz has used both a mix of dark shadows and lighting to give the artwork more depth and meaning behind it. Not only that but it also gives a feel of both realistic and not so much, this artwork’s main purpose is to show the audience how much people suffered or went through this time. The way that Käthe Kollwitz has portyarded both realism and not she uses many different lines to create a sense of realism in widow II. Käthe Kollwitz used many different german expression techniques for eg: Woodcuts. Käthe Kollwitz stated that she used woodcuts to better display all the tragic effects that happen during world war 1. This was used in both her artworks, prints and etc, using woodcuts in both her artworks and prints helped promote her main goal at time by showing all the devastating toll that people went through world war 1. This art style was completely different from traditional art to german expressionism because traditional art is more one the side of Impressionists painting like you only had one look at the artwork, German Expressionism forces on the real world by using disportionate sizes like uneven angles, using vivid and really bright colours it is use to portray an emotional state of an issue.

And it also challenges traditional art in many ways

Information, facts, statistics and quotes from:

In 1840 Käthe Kollwitz main inspiration for her art was by another german artist “Max Klinger”. From (1884-1885) Käthe Kollwitz studied painting in school in Berlin. Also throughout this time Käthe Kollwitz started to make and produce more etching, lithographs, woodcuts and she also did drawings more than paintings. In 1891 Käthe Kollwitz had married a doctor Karl Kollwitz. Also during this time they moved to part of Berlin also known as the working class in Berlin. While living in the working class Käthe Kollwitz was able to base her artworks on her personal experiences in living in the working class. She also produced her first important artworks . ( Weavers Revolt 1894- 1898 ) and (Peasants’ War 1802- 1808). This was the first time that Käthe Kollwitz had ever experienced all the bad conditions in the Urban poor. Through the image of her artworks Käthe Kollwitz was able to portray and identify all the conditions e.g. (pain, stuffering and even death). She was able to do this trough the use of bold lines to create a deep meaning.

L (link) – re-answer the question and list the main point – e.g.: Therefore the artwork

Conclusion

It is clear that German Expression artworks are a reflection of all the events that were occuring in the world at time eg: WW1. Through the depiction of such huge world events. Modern art practices, and German Expression conventions principles,it is very clear that Käthe Kollwitz’s widow II is a huge inside into the world that it was produced in. Therefore Käthe Kollwitz’s widow II provides a lot of important details and insights into their world.

References

1. https://collections.artsmia.org/art/56245/the-widow-ii-kaethe-kollwitz
2. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/57362
3. Käthe Kollwitz. The Widow II (Die Witwe II) (plate 5) from War (Krieg). (1922, published 1923)
4. https://www.kollwitz.de/en/sheet-5-the-widow-ii
5. https://news.artnet.com/market/art-house-an-introduction-to-german-expressionist-films-32845
6. https://lib.guides.umd.edu/c.php?g=326833&p=2194181
7. https://kollwitz.weebly.com