Käthe Kollwitz - Portrait of the German artist of expressionism

Käthe Kollwitz died at Moritzburg, near Dresden, in April 1945, shortly before the end of the Second World War. As the film begins she is an old woman in the last months of her life, contemplating death. Using words taken from her diaries and letters, she looks back over her life and work.
It was always of great importance to Kollwitz that her art should communicate directly with an audience, and by working with graphic media - lithography, etching and woodcuts - she hoped to give her images a wide circulation, as campaign posters and in leftwing books and periodicals.
She spent most of her working life in Berlin during the politically turbulent years before and after the First World War. Her husband ran a medical practice for the poor and it was through his work that she became intimately aware of the problem of the urban working class.
She worte: "I want my art to have a purpose. I want to have an effect on these times when man is so perplexed and in need of help. I will be his attorney."
But beyond its sense of social and political purpose, her art was always inspired by an intensely personal vision.
"Expression is all I want. I have never done any of my work cold. I have always worked with my blood so to speak. All my work hides within it, life itself, and it is with life that I contend, through my work."
A Film by Ron Orders & Norbert Bunge
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[@misterbigears8459]

The German Expressionists Are some of my favorite And Kathy expresses the sadness of the losses to humanity due to War. Thank You.

[@paulgriffithsart]

My friend is studying this subject and watched the film with her last night. I'm watching it again this morning.

[@antoniofuri4209]

very beautiful and intense portrait...very lyrical and poetic...thank you

[@kafka_kitty]

Thanks so much for uploading this gem!

[@ultraali453]

I am speechless. I really hope an autobiographical film is made on the life of Käthe Kollwitz to bring attention to war and the suffering it causes.

[@songsoftheseas67]

thank you so much for uploading. and thanks to Kathe for dedicating her life to creating such incredible work.

[@wocomoCULTURE]

Glad you enjoyed it! :)

[@travisk4215]

Antiques Roadshow brought me here ;) I love this woman’s art.

[@maddietighe5881]

Beautiful. Thank you.

[@Mumont]

wow thank you!

[@wematter4870]

Her art named Bread is fasinating painful, the mother hiding Her face and 2 children are hungry , The most painful thing for a mother to see and know that Her children are hungry and she cant provide food for them.

[@baptisteallomaisonbobos107]

A repasser en ces moments tragiques

[@user-ni5py1ti1o]

❤

[@Caligari...]

I cannot hear the audio .

[@ashtray3860]

28:30

[@erkanerden1535]

Gerçek

[@ZebeddiDooDah]

How tedious, can the voice over not speak faster and louder.

[@aydenisive]

you can speed up the playback rate? that's what I'm doing...

[@ashtray3860]

real, I have it on 1.5 and the volume at 100 and it's still too quiet and slow!

[@andreychizov8201]

Nothing to do with politics and proletariat. She was a schizophrenic. So it is hard to enjoy her art. One must have the same state of mind to appreciate it, although that's a real art.

[@mayaneumeier847]

I'd love to understand why her being schizophrenic makes it hard to enjoy her art? To me, it seems interesting to see another perspective. I don't have schizophrenia, what does this situation look like to someone that does?

[@andreychizov8201]

@@mayaneumeier847 there was her exibition in Getty. Very powerful, but very sick. Must see originals, to feel the art, the energy, the feelings.

[@mzny4314]

@@andreychizov8201 you also have to take into consideration the times that she lived through and experienced. It would be helpful if you could cite your sources on her mental health as well.

[@andreychizov8201]

@@mzny4314 Bullshit

[@matttheman9740]

@@andreychizov8201 I dont believe that a persons mental state should affect the viewers perspective of the work. It has been said that her schizophrenia was well controlled and was actually not as serious. Most of this expression comes from witnessing 2 world wars, that is where the heart of appreciation should come from. Its not a type of style that is meant to be ''enjoyed''. This style ''expressionism'' is meant to be disturbing, sick, and wept upon. This does not make it bad art, you in particular just dont like feeling this darkness. But guess what, this is what those people felt living through the wars. The least we can do is not judge it for what we want it to be, but appreciate it for what is already is.