Untitled

About this work

You see a starving child pressed against a woman’s chest, her bony fingers clutching at empty air. Kollwitz made this print to raise money after a famine in Russia. She didn’t soften the hunger—every rib and hollow cheek is sharp enough to cut. The lines are rough, like she drew them fast, right on the stone. If you want to see how she turns sorrow into art, look up lithography.