Object number2013.25.1
Working Woman with Blue Shawl
Date1903
Artist
Käthe Kollwitz
(German, 1867-1945)
CultureGerman
MediumColor lithograph on cream wove paper
DimensionsImage: 14 x 9 3/4 in. (35.6 x 24.8 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/8 x 17 7/8 in. (56.8 x 45.4 cm)
Plate: 15 3/8 x 11 in. (39.1 x 27.9 cm)
Matted: 23 13/16 x 18 7/8 in. (60.5 x 47.9 cm)
Sheet: 22 3/8 x 17 7/8 in. (56.8 x 45.4 cm)
Plate: 15 3/8 x 11 in. (39.1 x 27.9 cm)
Matted: 23 13/16 x 18 7/8 in. (60.5 x 47.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Lynn G. Straus, class of 1946
Period20th c
Classification(s)
SignedOn recto, signed lower right corner in pencil: Käthe Kollwitz
Catalogue raisonnéKlipstein 68; Knesebeck 2002, 75.III.aVassar Exhibitions
Label TextKäthe Kollwitz mostly created prints in black and white. However, her trips to Paris from 1901 to 1904 inspired her to experiment with color printmaking. The dark tones of blue and black create an intense, somber image. The tight composition and singular subject further emphasize its emotional intensity. Kollwitz’s portrayals of the working class—especially women—starkly represent their struggles, strength, and resilience. Yet, Kollwitz challenges stereotypical, misogynistic representations of women’s labor, stating that the “motifs chosen from this sphere offered me, simply and directly, what I felt to be beautiful. . . . The largesse of movement in the working people was beautiful. . . . Everything about bourgeois life struck me as pedantic. The movements of the proletariat were, by contrast, large and expansive.”
DescriptionA portrait of a woman in three-quarter view gazes down to her left. Set within an abstracted black background, the subject’s pursed lips and the print’s dark coloring create a solemn tone.
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