Death, Mother and Child

Kathe Kollwitz's Death, Mother and Child (1910) is a black chalk and charcoal drawing with stumping and erasing on brownish gray wove paper. This drawing addresses one of the central themes of Kollwitz's art: the relationship between a mother and her child, threatened by the ultimate separation of death. The black chalk and charcoal technique is powerful and expressive, the dense blacks and soft grays creating a mood of grief and desperation. Kollwitz's own experience of loss gave her depictions of maternal grief an authenticity and power that have never been surpassed. This drawing from 1910 shows her already exploring the theme of death and its threat to the bond between mother and child.

Kollwitz's depictions of mothers and children are among the most powerful images of maternal love and grief in the history of art.

This drawing confronts the ultimate human tragedy with Kollwitz's characteristic intensity, the powerful chiaroscuro and expressive handling creating an image of overwhelming emotional force.