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In 1919, Käthe Kollwitz (German, 1867–1945) was the first woman to become a full member of the Prussian Akademie der Künste, an appointment that came with the honorary title “Professor.” The following year, she agreed to publish this large-format portfolio of twenty-four offset lithographic reproductions of drawings she had created over the past two decades. Because of Kollwitz’s role in selecting the works reproduced, this portfolio, published by Emil Richter in Dresden (thus the nickname “Richter-Mappe,” or “Richter Portfolio”), is recognized as a significant document of the fifty-three-year-old artist’s own assessment of her accomplishments to date. Less celebrated, however, are the plates themselves, which tend to be dismissed by print specialists as mere reproductions. Commercial techniques had progressed to such a point in 1920, however, that the detail and verisimilitude of these reproductions is exceptional. For Kollwitz, the potential of commercial reproductive processes to circulate her works to the broader public at an affordable price was paramount. We are inspired to highlight this portfolio by Starr Figura’s dazzling exhibition Käthe Kollwitz, on view at The Museum of Modern, New York until July 20.
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