Need

In February 1893 Käthe Kollwitz attended a private performance of Gerhard Hauptmann’s play Die Weber (The Weaver). Regarded as controversial and initially banned, the play focused on the 1844 uprising of poverty-stricken Silesian hand weavers affected by industrialisation.

Impressed by the power of this play and its relevance to the working class in her own time, Kollwitz began a set of six prints on the theme of weavers. Her prints parallel the despair, rioting and tragic outcome of the play, but diverge in respect to detail. A blend of realism and symbolism, Kollwitz’s prints strive for universality.

First exhibited at the annual salon in Berlin in 1898, this series received much attention and established Kollwitz as a leading printmaker. It also introduced themes that would preoccupy her throughout her career, including poverty, oppression, war, and inhumanity.

Julie Robinson, Senior Curator, Prints, Drawings & Photographs