Kathe Kollwitz Graphics at CSU Art Museum

Long Beach, CA - Karl Liebknecht was an attorney and left-wing member of the German parliament (Reichstag).  In 1919, he and compatriot Rosa Luxemberg were abducted, tortured, and murdered by the Freikorps—an ultra-conservative militia.

She was a committed socialist and pacifist as illustrated by her work "memorial sheet for Karl Liebknecht" and her involvement with the workers council for art, a part of the socialist government in the first few weeks after the war.  In 1933 the Nazi Party forced her to resign her place on the faculty of the Academy of Arts.  She was banned from exhibiting, but some of her work was used by the Nazis for propaganda.

Kathe Kollwitz lost one of her two sons in World War I and a grandson in World War II.  She endeavored through numerous graphic works and sculpture to visualize her grief and the grief of all parents at the death of their children.  She was the first woman elected to the Prussian Academy of Art in 1919.  In 1937, Kollwitz’s work was included in the infamous Degenerate Art exhibition organized by the Nazi Regime.  She died in 1945.  Kollwitz’s legacy of unforgettable prints, drawings, and sculptures are a timeless protest against the evils we impose on each other and the sufferings of humankind.

This collection of prints has been selected from the Special Collections Department at California State University, Long Beach.  The UAM, a division of the College of the Arts, has received funding for this project thanks to the generosity of the Instructionally Related Activities Fund, the College of the Arts, CSULB, and the CSULB Library.  On exhibition until 6 August.

Visit University Art Museum at : http://www.csulb.edu/org/uam/