Taking a stand – Käthe Kollwitz

With interventions by Mona Hatoum

A woman has her head tilted to the left. She looks old and emaciated. She holds her chin with a bony hand. The eyes are closed, the hair seems a bit untidy, behind it is probably pinned up.
Käthe Kollwitz, woman’s head in profile to the left, around 1905, Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne; Photo: Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne

Rough, unadorned, and, among conservatives, considered as “gutter art”: Käthe Kollwitz’s (1867-1945) life was marked by a restless political engagement with the means of art. To this day, her works have not lost their relevance. Five installations by the Palestinian-British artist Mona Hatoum (*1952) add a contemporary and global perspective to the exhibition. Both Kollwitz and Hatoum use a reduced formal language, employ color at best pointedly, and their works revolve around themes such as vulnerability, displacement, and the experience of conflict.

An exhibition in cooperation with the Kunsthaus Zürich, in collaboration with the Käthe Kollwitz Museum Cologne.