KATHE KOLLWITZ IN DRESDEN

The Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett (Museum of Prints, Drawings and Photographs of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden), which has one of the greatest collections of prints and drawings in Europe, has particularly important and unique holdings of the work of the outstanding graphic artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945). She formed a long association with the leading art historian Max Lehrs (1855-1938), the director of the Dresden Kupferstich-Kabinett, and Kollwitz's discerning supporter. Published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Kollwitz's birth, this catalogue tells the story of the earliest public holding of her work to be established and of Lehrs's nurture of "one the greatest talents in the field of the graphic arts". The development of Kollwitz's artistic themes - of wife and mother, of war and death, and not least of self-portraiture, one of the most fascinating aspects of her oeuvre - are examined with the aid of the thorough documentation of her creativity that the scholarly Lehrs carefully preserved.