Minneapolis Institute of Art

March of the Weavers

Käthe KollwitzLinkedCulture matchlcp-87e1b8bd90c2

Date

1897

Medium

Etching and aquatint

Department

European Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Object ID

50033

In early 1893, Kollwitz attended a private performance of Gerhart Hauptmann's play The Weavers in Berlin. The play was based on a historical uprising of Silesian textile workers in 1844, in which a group of workers decide their lot is intolerable and rally at the mansion of their employer. He calls in the military and in the upheaval that results, a stray bullet kills an old man who had opposed the uprising. There is no easy or happy conclusion, and the play ends on this note. By basing her graphic cycle on this infamous story, Kollwitz established herself as an artist concerned with the downtrodden. The six images of this cycle confront the difficult themes of poverty, infant mortality, violent rebellion, and retaliatory slaughter. They were not intended to illustrate the play, but rather to create a parallel and independent visual text so that even those unfamiliar with the play could understand the continual struggle of the worker. Germany, Europe

The authoritative record is held by Minneapolis Institute of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.