Käthe Kollwitz,
German 1867-1945 -
 
Mutter mit Kind uber der Schulter (Die...

Käthe Kollwitz,

German 1867-1945 -

Mutter mit Kind uber der Schulter (Die Darbietung), c.1915;

bronze with brown patina, conceived c.1915 and cast in c.1961 by the artist's estate, signed and numbered on the base '3/10', stamped with foundry mark 'H. NOACK BERLIN', H46 x D28 x W26 cm

Provenance: L. Ehrlich, London, by whom bought during the below exhibition in 1967, and thence by descent; Christie's, London, 13th October 1994, lot 122, illus. p.127; The Geoffrey and Fay Elliot collection, purchased from the above and thence by descent

Note: We thank Dr. Annette Seeler, author of the catalogue raisonné of Käthe Kollwitz's sculpture, for her scientific advice on the provenance details.

It is currently unclear whether the present example is identical with the cast for Ottilie Ehlers-Kollwitz - wife of Hans Kollwitz (1892-1971), the artist's son), also numbered 3/10. - which was sold by Gerda Bassenge Gallery, Berlin, in 1963. Possibly a double numbering is to be assumed.

Exhibited: London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., 'Ernst Barlach and Käthe Kollwitz', Nov-Dec 1967, no.57 (possibly another cast illus. p.47)

Literature: Dr. H. Kollwitz & L. Reidemeister, 'Käthe Kollwitz, Das plastische Werk', Hamburg, 1967, no.4 (another cast illus.); H. Guratzsch, 'Käthe Kollwitz, Druckgrafik Handzeichnunmgen, Plastik', Bonn, 1990, no.16 (another cast illus. p.66); Annette Seeler, 'Käthe Kollwitz: Die Plastik Catalogue raisonné', Käthe Kollwitz Museum Köln, 2019, cat.no.15 I.B (another cast illus. p.96)

Note: Kollwitz appears to have been moved to execute this sculpture after the tragic death of her son in Flanders in 1914. A drawing of 1915 relating to the sculpture (Nagel/Timm 724) is mentioned in the artist's Tagebuck where Kollwitz writes, "Ich arbeite an der Darbietun. Ich musste - es war direkt ein Zwang - alles andern. Die Figur bog sich von selbst unter meinen sich und reicht ihr Kind dar. In niedrigster Demut." (I work on the performance. I had to - under compulsion - change everything. The figure contorts to my will and presents her child. With greatest humility.) It is following this where she formulates the motif of 'das opfer' (the victim).

This is the first sculpture in which she deals with all sight lines of a sculpture, where the purpose of the work is to be viewed in the round. The original plaster remained with the artist until her death and another cast of the work can be found in the collection of the Kathe Kollwitz Museum in Cologne. Kollwitz's work remain as a symbol for the suffering of mothers in the 20th century.

Kollwitz is currently the focus of a major exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, 'Making Modernism'.