Before I start I wish everyone a happy and wonderful Christmas and a splendid New Year. 

Now today's artist is female as you know I like to represent female artist. Her name is

Kathe Kollwitz (1867 – 1945)

A German painter, print maker and sculptor, Kathe Kollwitz’ work focussed on the human condition, in particular the plight of the less fortunate; victims of poverty, hunger and ultimately, war. Her initial work was conceived in a Naturalistic style through the media of drawing, etching, lithography and the woodcut but her output gradually became more graphic and Expressionistic to more accurately reflect her subject matter.

Kathe Kollwitz is recognised as one of the most important German artists of the 20th century, one who created timeless art works against a backdrop of personal sorrow and hardship.

Though Kollwitz studied both painting and printmaking, she turned exclusively to the print in the early 1890s. Influenced by fellow German artist Max Klinger, she saw the potential of the print for social commentary. Prints could be reproduced inexpensively and in multiples, allowing her to reach more people.

For the next 50 years she produced dramatic, emotion-filled etchings, woodcuts, and lithographs—generally in black and white but sometimes including touches of color. Initially, her husband’s working-class patients proved worthy models and subjects. Beginning in the teens, Kollwitz’s subject matter came to reflect her experience as a witness to both World Wars. She was devastated by the suffering and loss of human life, including the loss of a son in the first war and a grandson in the second.

https://nmwa.org/explore/artist-profiles/k%C3%A4-kollwitz?gclid=CKHspd3Ah9ECFYJjvAodDDcM6A