Social Concerns in the Prints of Kathe Kollwitz

• Main Authors: Tze-hsien Chuang, 莊子賢
• Other Authors: Yi-fang Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/55172050471912753750

碩士 === 國立成功大學 === 藝術研究所 === 97 === Kathe Kollwitz (nee Schmidt, 1867-1945) was always viewed as an Expressionist. Most of the studies about her focused on the “ Mother” images or the potentially political stance about it in her art works. Although social concern has always been an important trait in Kollwitz’s works, the lack of a longitudinal and deeper analysis leaves many different aspects in her works remain unclear. This thesis focus on four sets of Kollwitz ‘s print works: Ein Weberaufstand, Bauernkrieg, Krieg, Tod. By means of analyzing the way of expressing the topics, the composition and the change of styles in her works, Kollwitz’ s social concerns and her pursuit of artistry were also revealed. Ein Weberaufstand is a more classical and sophisticated set of work, which conveys revolutionary messages in a mild way. The composition of Bauernskrieg and the ambience established in it portrays how people were oppressed. In this work, Kollwitz declared her social reform ideal in a bold and straightforward way. After the devastating World War I, Kollwitz repressed her grief and started to call for peace by creating woodcuts which can express strong feelings. Krieg is a sentimental set of work, which shows her worry about death and getting old. However, in analyzing the work, one can figure out that those death scenes contain different meanings: peaceful, aggressive, unrevealed and expected. Therefore, Kollwitz still held the concerns about humanity. Though the artistry of Krieg is simple, the social concerns lied in them can still be easily sensed. Thus, one can see that Kollwitz’s art works were not meant to express her own distress or become propaganda, but to manifest her lifelong concerns about the hardship of society.