The Widow II Possibly 1922 - 1923

This is Kathe Kollwitz's "The Widow II," a woodcut print, made sometime in the first half of the 20th century. It's a stark image, all black and white, that hits you right in the gut. The thing about woodcut is that it's so direct, so un-fussy. You see the marks of the tool, the artist's hand. It’s a process of carving away, of reduction, which feels appropriate here. Look at the white lines that define the figures, they're raw, almost brutal. The texture in the lower portion of the print is like a bed of nails. And that darkness, that solid block of black looming over the figures, it's not just a background. It's a weight, a presence. You can feel the grief, the despair, pressing down. Kollwitz made a lot of prints about war and loss. She understood that art wasn't just about beauty, but about bearing witness, about feeling. Goya comes to mind. Artists willing to look into the abyss. It’s powerful stuff.