I was in New York City last weekend and I visited the Käthe Kollwitz retrospective at MOMA. It’s the largest gathering of her work in the U.S. in 30 years, and it offers a wonderful insight into the development of her print work.
The incredibly poignant 1903 etching, Woman with Dead Child, is a powerful statement about grief and loss. It is also an example of how Kollwitz used the drawing process to inform and inspire her etching process. The exhibition has 6 developmental states of the print, each state shows her reliance on multiple drawing materials to inform her etching.
State I is a soft ground etching, which allows her to trace the drawing onto the plate. She also presses sandpaper into the ground to create slight tonal textures when etched. She has also over drawn areas with charcoal and white chalk. Already the print has improved on the drawing by dropping the woman’s face and the child’s head.
In State II, she adds etched lines, dry point (scratching the steel plate to create a burr, that holds ink to create thicker/feathered lines), and more sandpaper for tonal texture. The shape and anatomy of the foreground leg is beautifully drawn and the structure of the form is expressed in simple planes.
State III adds a gold coloured wash, charcoal and graphite to the etching. The form is beginning to be carved out. The wash helps to define the figure/ground relationship. This is the only known version of this State. Some great exploration of dramatic tone utilizing the charcoal.
State IV uses a blue wash, charcoal and white chalk. The tonal values within the forms are not working yet, too even and flat.
This State IV experiment uses graphite, black chalk, and paint. This version is important in developing more tonal contrast and suggesting some bold marks that are translated into drypoint.
This State IV is pure printmaking. The gold colour is a sprayed tone on a litho stone and printed over the etching. The characteristic bold incised lines of drypoint are seen on the ankle below the hand. The tonal values still seem too even around the child’s head and the line etching on the arm, shoulder and torso seem flat, but the strong tonal contrasts are bringing the eye into the embrace.
The final State of the print, State V, Kollwitz has discarded the idea of using colour, and the final version is black and white. The form has become more tonal and atmospheric. The exhibition offers magnifying glasses, I recommend it for this print to see the rich tonal texture that has been added through the soft ground etching process. What is so remarkable about this print is that the emotion has been enhanced through the multiple states, the material of the image is inextricably linked to the expression of the meaning. The process is the point and an essential journey to express the theme of this piece.
There is nothing like being able to see art in the flesh and especially an exhibition like this that includes so much process work and preparatory drawings. Sadly, Kollwitz lived through the pain expressed in this print, she lost her son in 1914, in World War 1 and grandson in 1942, in World War 2. She died 16 days before the end of the war in 1945 at 77 years old.
I just recently learned of her work, and this piece specifically through Sterling Hundley. It’s amazing. As the father of 3 young children now, this piece in particular is one of the most affecting pieces of art I’ve ever experienced. Thanks for sharing your experience and the process prints!