Kollwitz drew and printed the suffering of working people with a directness that made her contemporaries uncomfortable. Mothers holding dead children. Workers on strike. Famine. War. She did not aestheticise poverty. She recorded it.
Key facts
- Lived
- 1867–1945, German
- Movement
- Works held in
- 20 museums
Biography
She was born Kathe Schmidt in Konigsberg, East Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). She studied art in Berlin and Munich, married the physician Karl Kollwitz, and settled in a working-class district of north Berlin where her husband ran a clinic. Her patients became her subjects. The prints from A Weavers' Revolt (1893-97) and Peasants' War (1902-08) are among the most powerful graphic art of the period.
Her son Peter was killed in the First World War, at Flanders, in October 1914. He was eighteen. She spent the next eighteen years making a memorial sculpture of two grieving parents, which was installed at the German military cemetery in Vladslo, Belgium, in 1932. The figures kneel in the mud among the headstones. The mother's face is Kollwitz's own. The father's is her husband's.
The Nazis removed her from the Prussian Academy of Arts in 1933. Her work was confiscated from museums. Her grandson Peter, named after her son, was killed in the Second World War in 1942. She was evacuated from Berlin and died in Moritzburg in April 1945, two weeks before the war ended.
She worked primarily in printmaking and drawing, using lithography, woodcut, and etching. She considered herself a printmaker, not a painter. The medium suited her purpose: prints could be produced in editions, distributed widely, and seen by the people whose lives they depicted.
Timeline
- 1867Born Kathe Schmidt in Konigsberg, Prussia (now Kaliningrad, Russia). Her father recognised her artistic talent early and arranged private drawing lessons.
- 1891At 24, married Dr Karl Kollwitz in Berlin. He opened a clinic in a working-class neighbourhood, exposing her to the poverty and hardship that would define her art.
- 1898At 31, completed her print cycle "A Weavers' Revolt" in Berlin, which brought her widespread recognition and a proposed gold medal (vetoed by Kaiser Wilhelm II).
- 1914At 47, her youngest son Peter was killed in action in Flanders during the first weeks of the war. His death became the central trauma of her life and art.
- 1920At 53, became the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin, later receiving the honorary title of professor.
- 1932At 65, her granite memorial to her son was finally completed and erected in the German military cemetery at Vladslo, near Ypres in Belgium, after 18 years of work.
- 1933At 66, forced by the Nazi regime to resign from the Prussian Academy in Berlin. Her work was soon forbidden from public exhibition.
- 1945Died at 77 in Moritzburg, near Dresden, just days before the end of the Second World War. Her grandson Peter had been killed in action in 1942.
Notable Works
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Käthe Kollwitz prints
Hand-finished archival prints from Käthe Kollwitz's body of work.
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See all Käthe Kollwitz prints →Frequently Asked Questions
Käthe kollwitz art style?
Käthe Kollwitz turned to printmaking as a means for social criticism. She dedicated her art to the poor and oppressed, especially women and children.Kathe kollwitz facts?
Käthe Kollwitz was the first woman to be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts. One of her sons and a grandson were killed in the World Wars, and her art expressed great sorrow at suffering.What is kathe kollwitz work about?
Käthe Kollwitz dedicated her art to the poor and oppressed, especially women and children. After the loss of her son and grandson in the World Wars, her art expressed even greater sorrow at suffering.What was kathe kollwitz art about?
Käthe Kollwitz dedicated her art to the poor and oppressed, especially women and children. After the loss of her son and grandson in the World Wars, her art expressed even greater sorrow at suffering.What was kathe kollwitz famous for?
Käthe Kollwitz is known for her prints showing the suffering of working people with directness. She recorded poverty, famine, and war without embellishment.When did käthe kollwitz die?
Käthe Kollwitz died in 1945 at the age of 78.Who was kathe kollwitz?
Käthe Kollwitz was the first woman elected to the Academy of the Arts in Berlin. The jury at the 1898 Great Berlin Art Exhibition voted to award her a gold medal for her first major print series, A Weavers’ Revolt.Did kathe kollwitz son die?
Käthe Kollwitz died in 1945 at the age of 78.Kathe kollwitz most famous artwork?
Käthe Kollwitz's first major print series, A Weavers’ Revolt, is among her most famous works. In 1898, the jury at the Great Berlin Art Exhibition voted to award her a gold medal for the series, but Emperor Wilhelm II refused.What is kathe kollwitz art style?
Käthe Kollwitz is known for her raw, empathetic, monochrome prints and sculptures. She initially trained as a painter, but turned to printmaking.When was kathe kollwitz born?
Käthe Kollwitz was born in 1867 in Germany. Käthe Kollwitz died in 1945, aged 78.Kathe kollwitz techniques?
Käthe Kollwitz primarily worked in printmaking and drawing, using lithography, woodcut, and etching. She initially learned drawing with a local Prussian engraver.
Sources
Editorial draws on the following primary and tertiary references for Käthe Kollwitz.
- [1] book Dorling Kindersley, Artists: Inspiring Stories of the World's Most Creative Minds Used for: biography.
- [2] book Starr Figura, German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse Used for: biography.
Editorial overseen by Solis Prints. Sources verified 2026-06-18. Click a source for details, or hover over [N] in the page above to preview.
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