Es loht sich / Es lohnt sich nicht #8

Cologne, it turns out, has a very respectable Käthe Kollwitz museum. She's a tough artist to put a finger on. She was active from the late 1800s through her death in 1945, an era of isms, though she to my knowledge embraced none of them. There's a hint of expressionism lurking (more in mood than in execution). There's a hint of die Neue Sachlichkeit (new objectivity). Mostly, I think she just did her own thing.

In many images, the subject's hands are touching her head, a motif of grief, I think.

Self portrait

While strolling Cologne, this destroyed church (St. Alban's) caught my eye. I later learned that the sculptures are copies of originals Kollwitz made for a monument in Russia, where her son was killed in WWI. It's called "The Mourning Parents."

1 comments:

Unknown said...

In case you haven't seen this...the memorial to the Victims of War & Tyranny has a pieta-esque Kollowitz sculpture in the center. Extremely moving.

See http://www.viator.com/photos/Berlin-tours/Discover-Berlin-Half-Day-Walking-Tour/10846

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