Minneapolis Institute of Art

Portrait of a Working Woman with Blue Shawl

Käthe Kollwitz

Date

1903

Medium

Crayon and brush lithograph on wove Japan paper

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

“Woman with Blue Shawl” represents a highpoint in Käthe Kollwitz’s engagement with color lithography. The striking image shows a woman bust length with her head slightly downturned. Here Kollwitz is at her best in conveying subtle emotion. The subject’s hair is pulled back, and her sinking cheeks make us feel the burdens she bears. Much of her face is in shadow, though the light catches her from one side. She wears the denim blue coat of a worker. Though she lives a hard life, we do not sense abject despair. Rather she can take some solace in the touch of light that comes to her like a spiritual aura. Mia has two other impressions of this lithograph, one a rare, early proof (P.359), the other a later commercially-printed reissue (P.5, 419). The present impression shows how Kollwitz’sintended the published print to appear Germany, Europe

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