Käthe Kollwitz and the women of war : femininity, identity, and art in Germany during World Wars I and II / edited by Claire C. Whitner.

Published in conjunction with the exhibitions The Krieg Cycle: Käthe Kollwitz and World War I, 16 September-13 December 2015 at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, curated by Claire C. Whitner; and Mothers' Arms: Käthe Kollwitz's Women and War at the Smith College Museum of Art, 29 January-29 May 2016, curated by Henriëtte Kets de Vries.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 135-137)

Directors' Foreword / Lisa Fischman and Jessica Nicoll -- Editor's Foreword / Claire C. Whitner -- Mothers' Arms: Käthe Kollwitz's Women and War / Henriëtte Kets de Vries -- "They were all deceived": Art, Women, and Propaganda in the Life and Work of Käthe Kollwitz / Joseph McVeigh -- Käthe Kollwitz and "Boasting Virility" at Smith College's Museum of Art / Darcy C. Buerkle -- Plates -- Käthe Kollwitz and the "Krieg" Cycle: The Genesis, Creation, and Legacy of an Iconic Print Series / Claire C. Whitner -- "Enough have died! No more shall perish!": Käthe Kollwitz and World War I / Annette Seeler; Claire C. Whitner, translator -- Grief Reserved for the Mother: Käthe Kollwitz's "Krieg" Cycle and Gender in the Weimar Republic / Anjeana K. Hans -- Works Cited -- Checklists.

The art of German printmaker and sculptor Kathe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is famously empathetic; Kollwitz imbued her prints, drawings, and sculpture with eloquent and often painful commentary on the human condition, especially the horrors of war. This insightful book, the first English-language catalogue on Kollwitz in more than two decades, offers the singular opportunity to examine her work against the tumultuous backdrop of World Wars I and II. The societal cost of war became an enduring subject for Kollwitz after her youngest son died on the battlefield in Flanders in 1914. She dedicated much of the remainder of her career to creating images that questioned the efficacy of war, exposed its devastation, and promoted peace. The essays discuss the motifs she developed in this pursuit-young widows, grieving parents alongside maternal figures that serve as defenders, guardians, activists, and mourners-within the context of German visual culture from 1914 to 1945. 0Exhibition: Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, USA (16.09-20.12.2015)