Beggars is a 1924 charcoal by Käthe Kollwitz, depicting Charcoal, held at National Gallery of Art.
You see two hunched figures in dark, scratchy lines—one leaning on a stick, the other clutching a bowl. Käthe Kollwitz drew this in 1924, when Germany was poor and hungry after the war. She knew hardship firsthand; her son died in World War I. The faces aren’t detailed, but the weight of their bodies tells you everything. Look up *cross-hatching*—how she layered lines to build shadows and texture.
Käthe Kollwitz (German pronunciation: born Schmidt; 8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture.
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