Artist: Kollwitz, Käthe (German, 1867-1945)
Title: Mothers II (Mutter II)
1919
Lithograph
1943.3.5270
National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC.

Student Curator Comments:
This lithograph is a continuation of Kollwitz’s theme of maternal protection which she developed in the interwar years of early 20th Century Germany. She still used very quick, sketchy strokes in this drawing, but there is an emphasis on shading and the juxtaposition of light and dark. Appearing from a shadow, a mother engulfs her two young sons in her arms in the right foreground. On her left, another mother clings to a baby and holds onto the chest of another son; her strong, outstretched arm and hand hold the son close to her and the boy grabs tightly back onto her arm. All of the mothers tenderly press their faces close to their children. Their monumental arms and hands suggest that they are strong. Here Kollwitz places the figures in the context of  her country near the end of WWI. The figures have sunken eyes and cheeks, suggesting that they are malnourished from the nationwide food shortage that claimed well over 400,000 civilian lives in Germany.