Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Death Seizes A Woman


This illustration is a charcoal drawing by Kathe Kollwitz. I think this is a very well done illustration because it is powerful. The emotions on the subjects faces are strong and gives the audience a feeling of melancholy and confusion. I say confusion because you don't really know whats going on, however you still have an idea. It is a very dark and sketchy piece that is well thought out and successfully organized. She realized that she didn't need a background because her subjects were meaningful and dramatic on its own. That was an intelligent move which allowed this to be a solid piece.
I bought a book of her work and she does a lot of really depressing etching, charcoal, prints, ink and drawings.
She is a really talented artist who is able to portray emotion well in her work. Some of her drawings are simple but the passion she puts in her art is overpowering. I would love to be able to depict emotion like the way she does. When I bought the book I was in a charcoal phase. I decided to talk about it because I'm still in that phase. This seemed to be the appropriate time to talk about her and one of her drawings.

4 comments:

  1. I really like the sense of confusion you get when you look at the drawing. I have been staring at it for some time and am still a little confused! The emotion and the creepy feel is also really great. It pulls you into the piece since you can't figure out whats going on entirely.

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  2. I first saw this illustration on my figure class one of my favorite drawing. To me it looked like the artist quickly drew it to give off that quick death feel. Absolutely look this drawing for its expression on the womens face really gives off that emotion to help that poor lady.

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  3. This is a very strong, dark and provocative piece. It is has a strong sense of invasion and surprise mixed with the confusion. I think I agree with Abraham there is a strong feeling of death with I think is invoked by the skeletal frame of the man contrasted against the full figure of the woman.

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  4. I also get that feeling of overall power in this piece and I think I get that most when I see the body language between the figures. The intertwining of the arms and the shadow on her face from "death" being so close to her gives off that anxiety that she can't do nothing in this particular moment but let death take her.

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