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Collection Publications: Klinger to Kollwitz Labels
Through printmaking and sculpture, Kollwitz explored naturalistic themes and emotionally charged subjects, often using working-class people as her models. The technique and ideas of Max Klinger, particularly his exploration of the themes of social oppression and injustice, had a profound effect on her work. In 1884 she saw an exhibition of his print cycle Ein Leben in Berlin and read his treatise Malerei und Zeichnung in the late 1880s. These works inspired her to abandon painting and pursue the graphic arts.
Shown in the 1901 Berlin Secession exhibition, Kollwitz completed this work between her two print series based on social activism and the worker's movement: Weavers' Revolt (1895-98) and Peasants' War (1903-08). The print is also known as La Carmagnole, which takes its name from the most popular song of the French Revolution. The theme of peasants chanting and dancing around a guillotine was probably inspired by Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Rather than situating the scene in eighteenth-century Paris, Kollwitz portrayed working people from her own time, surrounded by architecture from Hamburg. Almost all the dancers are women, with the exception of the young drummer boy, modeled after her son Hans.
Shown in the 1901 Berlin Secession exhibition, Kollwitz completed this work between her two print series based on social activism and the worker's movement: Weavers' Revolt (1895-98) and Peasants' War (1903-08). The print is also known as La Carmagnole, which takes its name from the most popular song of the French Revolution. The theme of peasants chanting and dancing around a guillotine was probably inspired by Charles Dickens's A Tale of Two Cities. Rather than situating the scene in eighteenth-century Paris, Kollwitz portrayed working people from her own time, surrounded by architecture from Hamburg. Almost all the dancers are women, with the exception of the young drummer boy, modeled after her son Hans.
