Arbeiterfrau im Profil Nach Links (Worker Woman in profile towards left)

Kathe Kollwitz

A striking portrait of a working woman by Kathe Kollwitz, done using stone lithography. The artist saturates the stone with black, from the background she emerges a stoic face that seems to be engrossed in thought and hands that are large and arthritic from years of hard labor.

The daughter of a stone mason, Kollwitz grew up with workers. Her husband, a doctor, tended to the working poor. Kollwitz's empathy with the ordinary working person is evident throughout her work.

The two white specks to the left of the subject were flaws in the stone and became part of the composition. This impression is pencil signed by Kollwitz (see next paragraph).

The Knesebeck catalogue raisonné notes about this state, IIIa: "Richter edition, at least 1923. In brown, on darkly browned, imitation laid paper, most with watermark... Unsigned, but occasionally with accommodating signatures."

Until 1927, Kollwitz's lithographs (including "Arbeiterfrau...") were printed by Hermann Birkholz.