exhibition catalogue
„Warning and Temptation.
The pictorial worlds of war of Käthe Kollwitz and Kata
Legrady“, with essays from Gurdrun Fritsch, Pay Matthis
Karstens and Martin Bayer.
exhibition dates
30 june - 9 November 2014
Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin
Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is undoubtedly one of the
most important female artists of the last century. Her
art developed completely self-taught and shows all
signs of genius. Her language is understood
worldwide.
Warning
&
Temptation
At the end of May 1986, the Berlin painter and art
dealer Prof. Hans Pels-Leusden, who died in April
1993, opened the privately directed Käthe-KollwitzMuseum Berlin.
Four decades after the death of Käthe Kollwitz a permanent home for a major part of her complete works
has been set up thanks to this generous donation in
the town where Käthe Kollwitz lived and worked for
more than fifty years.
The Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin is located in the
former first private home built 1871 in Fasanenstraße.
Destroyed during the 2nd World War, the building
underwent a fundamental restauration during the
nineteeneighties.
Fasanenstraße 24 10719 Berlin
Tel: +49 (0)30 882 52 10 Fax +49 (0)30 881 19 01
www.kaethe-kollwitz.de info@kaethe-kollwitz.de
Opening Time
11.00 -18.00 daily
11.00 - 21.00 Tuesdays
admission price: 6 € / reduced 3 €
Getting here
U9 Kurfürstendamm
U1 and buses M19,109,110, X10 Uhlandstraße
The pictorial
Worlds of War
of
Käthe Kollwitz
and
Kata Legrady
Warning and Temptation
The pictorial worlds of war of Käthe Kollwitz and
Kata Legrady
On the occasion of the First World War’s outbreak 100
years ago, the Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin brings into
focus not only the war related works of its eponym and
her personal fate during two world wars. Furthermore,
it is the starting point to initiate a fascinating dialogue
between Käthe Kollwitz’s works and the provoking, alienated weapons of the contemporary Hungarian artist
Kata Legrady. Separated by a time lag of nearly one
century, work by both artists reflects the origins and
consequences of martial conflicts. Although both pictorial worlds of war differ in form, they are connected by
several intersecting points of content: Kata Legrady’s
embellished military equipments show war’s propagandistic promises, whilst Käthe Kollwitz’s late oeuvre
bemoans their tragic human consequences. Together
both visual worlds bare the dualism of every war situation: bitter warnings referring to past suffering are always standing opposed to national, political and financial temptations.
Kata Legrady, rocking horse, 2011, varnished beech,
private property
„My continuing controversial attitude to war. How has this
come to pass? Through Peter´s self-sacrifice. What became
clear to me at that time and what I wanted to retain in my
work - all this now seems again so uncertain to me. I believed
that I could only remember Peter if I did not allow myself to
evade what he taught me at that time. The war has lasted for
two years now and five million young men are dead and the
same million human beings have been made unhappy and
destroyed. Is there anything that can still justify this?“
Käthe Kollwitz in her diary, 27 August1916
Sabine Steinke, 1914/1918, 2014, private property
Young generation’s perspective
The artistic dialogue of generations about war and
peace is further pursued by local students, who have
created artworks during a museum educational project
with Berlin schools. They especially emphasize Käthe
Kollwitz as mother and grandmother, who did not only
lose her son Peter in World War I, but also her grandson Peter (named after his dead uncle) in World War II.
Due to this fact, she repeatedly tried to warn the
youngest generation.
Käthe Kollwitz, The Volunteers (from the series „War“),
1921/22, woodcut, Käthe-Kollwitz-Museum Berlin