Käthe Kollwitz
Germany, 1867-1945 Die Liebenden dem Toten (gedenkblatt für Karl Liebknecht) [The living and the dead [memorial for Karl Liebknecht], 1921
Galvanic-process relief print
Gift of Andre Emmerich, New York, 1960.0080
Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were among the founders of the Berlin Spartakusbund (Spartacus League) that evolved into the Communist Party of Germany. On January 15, 1919, Liebknecht and Luxemburg were shot to death during the Spartacus Revolt on the pretext that they were attempting escape.
In this instance Kollwitz emphasizes grief and the human element over any explicit political reference. The version of the print exhibited here is not the original woodcut but a well-documented reproduction printed around 1921. The need to print this image in a large, mechanically-produced edition is testimony to the currency of its theme.
