Watch Käthe Kollwitz’s vision take shape in an animated video that traces the evolution of a single artwork. In “Sharpening the Scythe,” one of Kollwitz’s most powerful prints, an elderly peasant woman grips the blade of her farming tool, preparing it not for cutting crops, but to take part in a revolt. Watch how Kollwitz arrived at this potent image using her confidence as a draftsman and printmaker.
Kollwitz develops and abandons entire compositions as she revises the work, deepening her focus on the woman and intensifying her emotion and strength. As Kollwitz works, we sense her resistance to tropes (a male figure helping the woman, for example) and her painstaking search for the clearest possible message.
You can see the different editions of this print in person in the exhibition Käthe Kollwitz, on view at MoMA March 31–July 20, 2024. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/5625
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The comments and opinions expressed in this video are those of the speaker alone, and do not represent the views of The Museum of Modern Art, its personnel, or any artist.
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