The Wallraf

On my way to Hövelhof, I stopped at Cologne to visit my sister-in-law. Following my overwhelming impression of the paintings at the Hamburger Kunsthalle, I wanted to look at The Wallraf, particularly at works by Käthe Kollwitz.

 

Wallraf is the short form of the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, Cologne's art collection.

The museum claimed that one of the most famous German artists of the 20th century was its guest: Königsberg-born Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) is revered above all for her impressive graphic oeuvre. 

Self-portrait: The Master at his easel

Young Käthe's idols and patrons were two Maxs, Klinger and Liebermann. These artists were influential in her early career.

The empty and the ...

... and the frequented Munich beer garden (1888/89).

The Wallraf showed two little-known oil studies that the young Kollwitz created during her studies in Munich. 

Max Liebermann: Joodse Steeg (Jews'Alley) in Amsterdam, 1905

Käthe's oil paintings are presented in direct proximity to a painting by Liebermann and clearly reflect the influence of the German impressionist.

Max Klinger: Bathing Women, 1912 (©Wikipedia)

In an adjacent room, a Kollwitz etching created in the context of the legendary Weber Zyklus is juxtaposed with works by symbolist Max Klinger (1857-1920), another great role model for Käthe.

"From many wounds, you bleed, o people"
was supposed to become the final leaf of Käthe Kollwitz's cycle "A Weavers' Revolt."

The above etching called Red Baron's particular attention. A copy hung on the wall at my father-in-law's apartment that the family called Ecce homo. Here at The Wallraf, I learned its true origin.

Also, at The Wallraf: The Dying child

In February 1893, Käthe Kollwitz witnessed the premiere of Gerhart Hauptmann's naturalistic drama "The Weavers" at the New Theater Berlin (today's Theater am Schiffbauerdamm). The theater play deals with the Selisian weavers' misery, starvation, and uprising. The emotion of the spectators quickly made "The Weavers" one of the most discussed naturalistic works in Germany. In the same year, Käthe Kollwitz began work on her cycle "A Weavers' Revolt."

Two other paintings at The Wallraf drew my attention:

In 1822, Heinrich Christoph Kolbe painted Johann Wolfgang von Goethe at the age of 73. The Olympian looks with the gaze of an aged wise man, for he had definitely ticked off his Marienbad Elegy.

The Bavarian Franz von Lenbach painted the Prussian Otto Fürst Bismarck in 1888, two years before his resignation as Chancellor of the Second Reich in 1890. Bismarck is 75 by then, but he looks older.

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