Städtisches Obdach (Municipal Shelter)

 

Kathe Kollwitz

  1867 - 1945 (biography)

1926  

Crayon lithograph, printed using transfer 

16 3/4 x 22 1/4" image (varying) 

pencil, lower right 

not stated 

 

Knesebeck 226; Klipstein 219 

smooth ivory velin, unwatermarked 

Knesebeck a (of c); Klipstein a 

Leipzig/Kunstverein (Leipzig Art Association) as an annual premium for the members. 

ANFO119 

SOLD

According to cataloger Knesebeck "Städtisches Obdach" (Municipal Shelter) was printed in 1926 in three campaigns. The first (a) were printed as proofs by printer Hermann Birkholz from a drawing Kollwitz did using a litho crayon on transfer paper. These were proofs done on Japon or velin (wove) paper and signed by Kollwitz. This impression is from the second printing (b) which was printed as an annual premium for the members of the "Kunstverein" (Art Association) of Leipzig in 1926. These were printed on a rough, stiff paper and on brown or very browned stiff paper. These too were signed. The third printing (c) was printed on a smooth, machine-made paper and were unsigned. Some were printed with the oval stamp "Leipzig/Kunstverein." There are no formal editions in any printing. The stone was destroyed. One of Kollwitz's signature images, "Municipal Shelter" was reviewed by David Adelaide in 2003 for the exhibition "Käthe Kollwitz: The Art of Compassion." "In an exemplary 1926 lithograph, a woman is huddled over two children, with her hand to her head and her eyes closed. Everything in the composition is concentrated on the woman’s facial expression, which is perfectly rendered, lyrical and expressive of suffering. We instinctively know that this is someone who has lost everything, save for the two small children who draw near to her for warmth. Nothing in the picture suggests a particular place or time, other than the print’s title—'Municipal Shelter.'"