Description
Introduced to the misery of lower class life by her husband, a doctor for the poor, Käthe Kollwitz became a spokeswoman for the downtrodden. She abandoned painting in 1890, pursuing several print cycles, including the historically based Peasant War. This early charcoal study prepares for an etching from the series.
Provenance
Frederic James (1915-1985), Kansas City, Missouri [correspondence with Robert Adams]. Sold, Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, June 25, 1993, lot 77 (ill.). Sold by Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago, to the Art Institute, 1994.
Accession Number
129772
Medium
Compressed charcoal on cream laid paper
Dimensions
39.6 × 32 cm (15 5/8 × 12 5/8 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Credit Line
Margaret Fisher Endowment
Background & Context
Background Story
Kathe Kollwitz's Sharpening the Scythe (Biem Dengeln) (1905) is a compressed charcoal drawing on cream laid paper. This drawing shows a peasant figure sharpening a scythe, the tool of the harvest, with a whetstone. The subject is a scene of rural labor, but Kollwitz's treatment transforms an ordinary task into a powerful image of strength and determination. The figure is shown in profile, bent over the scythe, the arms and hands engaged in the rhythmic action of sharpening. The compressed charcoal technique allows for rich, deep blacks that create strong contrasts and a sense of sculptural volume. The cream laid paper provides a warm ground. This drawing belongs to the series of works on peasant themes that Kollwitz produced in the early 1900s, inspired by the Peasant War of 16th-century Germany. The sharpening of the scythe carries obvious symbolic overtones: the tool of the harvest is also a weapon, and the drawing suggests the potential for rebellion and uprising. Kollwitz's peasants are not passive victims but figures of strength and latent power.
Cultural Impact
Kollwitz's Peasant War series is one of the most powerful bodies of work in German art, using the historical theme of peasant rebellion to address contemporary issues of social justice.
Why It Matters
This drawing of a peasant sharpening a scythe transforms an act of rural labor into a powerful image of strength and potential rebellion, Kollwitz's dense charcoal handling creating a figure of sculptural presence and latent power.
