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The Carmagnole, 1901

  • etching, stencils (image-making tools), drypoint, aquatints (prints), sand aquatint, Japanese paper
  • 664 x 466 mm
  • Inv. 2009-AB

Public Domain

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After Käthe Kollwitz became acquainted with the work of Max Klinger, the innovator of German printmaking around 1900, she stopped painting and devoted herself to graphic art. Kollwitz was interested in the life and misery of the working class. For her first social works, she did not seek her inspiration in reality but in literature. This is the case for the print The Carmagnole, which depicts the last pages of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Kollwitz moved the scene, which in the novel takes place in Paris, to the Gängeviertel in Hamburg. Bare-breasted women who assisted in the executions during the Reign of Terror (1792-1794), known as les tricoteuses, perform a witches' sabbath around a guillotine to the rhythm of drumbeats. Kollwitz here portrayed the frenzied crowd in an almost caricatural way. Her approach and the technique she used are related to Klinger's vision, who emphasised that the contrast of black and white enhances the power of the message, as opposed to colour, which, although closer to reality, weakens its scope.

Artist

Käthe Kollwitz RKD
Kalinigrad 1867 - Moritzburg 1945
etchersAAT

Otto Felsing
Darmstadt 1831 - Berlin 1878
printers (people)AAT

Title The Carmagnole
Date 1901
Period 20th century
Medium and support etching AAT
stencils (image-making tools) AAT
drypoint AAT
aquatints (prints) AAT
sand aquatint
Signatures, inscriptions, and markings signatures (names) bottom right: Käthe Kollwitz
signatures (names) bottom left: O. Felsing
Collection print room
Object type etching AAT
stencils (image-making tools) AAT
drypoint AAT
aquatints (prints) AAT
Inventory number 2009-AB
Acquisition credit purchase
Galerie Boerner
Düsseldorf / New York
2009
Current whereabouts Work currently not on display
Permalink https://mskgent.be/collection/work/data/2009-AB
IIIF Manifest https://imagehub.mskgent.be/iiif/3/5796/manifest.json
Art & Architecture Thesaurus 300015571 cityscapes (representations) AAT
300189808 figures (representations) AAT
Keywords Iconclass 23T27(18) modern division of historical epochs ~ centuries (18) Iconclass
31A71 male sex; man Iconclass
31A72 female sex; woman Iconclass
31D14 adult man Iconclass
31D15 adult woman Iconclass
31E23621 violent death by beheading Iconclass
31E236211 violent death ~ beheading by guillotine Iconclass
31EE236211 violent death ~ beheading by guillotine - EE - death not certain; wounded person Iconclass
41A housing Iconclass
41A1 civic architecture; edifices; dwellings Iconclass
41A14 urban housing Iconclass
43C9 dancing Iconclass
48C734 percussion instruments Iconclass
48C7341 drum (musical instrument) Iconclass
48C755 vocal music, singing Iconclass
48CC75511 male singer - CC - out of doors Iconclass
48CC75512 female singer - CC - out of doors Iconclass
48CC7562 vocal popular music - CC - out of doors Iconclass
61D(FRANCE) geographical names of countries, regions, mountains, rivers, etc. (names of cities and villages excepted) (FRANCE) Iconclass
61E(PARIS) names of cities and villages (PARIS) Iconclass
61I(FRENCH REVOLUTION) names of historical events and situations (FRENCH REVOLUTION) Iconclass
School / Style German Expressionism
Expressionist (style) AAT
Modernist AAT
Käthe Kollwitz (Fonds Richard de Moor). - [s.l.] : [s.n.], [s.a.]
Käthe Kollwitz : Werkverzeichnis der Graphik ; Neubearbeitung des Verzeichnisses von August Klipstein, publiziert 1955 ; Band 1 : Nummern 1-129, 1890-1930 ; Band 2 : Nummern 130-275, 1914-1942 / Alexandra Von dem Knesebeck. - Bern : Verlag Kornfeld, 2002 (dl. 1, p. 176-179, cat. 51 V b)
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