The impact that Kathe Kollwitz drawings have on the viewer is arresting, they are a mixture of narrative, aesthetic and technique that only a great artist can achieve and transmit an inspiring creative and intellectual energy.

Kathe Kollwitz Art witnessed the great social and political turmoil that overtook Europe at the end of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century: revolutions, wars, famine. Many of her works are a powerful commentary and her indignant reaction to these dramatic events, but she also created works that show hope and joyous moment in the life of the people living through those troubled times.

With this two session Foundation Crash Course, we will explore her energetic technique and expressive artwork copying a few of her drawings in charcoal, pen and ink, graphite and, hopefully, enrich our own art.

Materials:

• Charcoal in sticks (such as Nitram or Winsor&Newton) and compressed charcoal in pencils (such as Generals or Wolff”s carbon).
• Graphite pencils in B, 2B, 4B gradations.
• Pen and ink; a synthetic round brush in size #6 or 8; black ink.
• A pad or a few sheets of drawing paper such as Strathmore Drawing in medium finish.