Sharpening the Scythe (Biem Dengeln)

Prints and Drawings

1905

Käthe Kollwitz
German, 1867-1945

Introduced to the misery of lower class life by her husband, a doctor for the poor, Käthe Kollwitz became a spokeswoman for the downtrodden. She abandoned painting in 1890, pursuing several print cycles, including the historically based Peasant War. This early charcoal study prepares for an etching from the series.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Käthe Kollwitz
Title: Sharpening the Scythe (Biem Dengeln)
Place: Germany (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1905
Medium: Compressed charcoal on cream laid paper
Inscriptions: Signed lower right, in charcoal: "Käthe Kollwitz"
Dimensions: 39.6 × 32 cm (15 5/8 × 12 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Margaret Fisher Endowment
Reference Number: 1994.102
Copyright: © 2018 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn

Art Institute of Chicago, “Master Drawings Unveiled: 25 Years of Major Acquisitions,” August 27, 2016–January 29, 2017, no cat.
Museum of Modern Art, New York City “Käthe Kollwitz”, March 31 - July 20, 2024.

Frederic James (1915-1985), Kansas City, Missouri [correspondence with Robert Adams]. Sold, Galerie Kornfeld, Bern, June 25, 1993, lot 77 (ill.). Sold by Robert Henry Adams Fine Art, Chicago, to the Art Institute, 1994.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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