Käthe Kollwitz, German 1867-1945 - Mutter mit Kind uber der Schulter (Die Darbietung), c.1915; bronze with brown patina, signed and numbered on the base 3/10, stamped with foundry mark 'H. NOACK BERLIN, H46 x D28 x W26 cm Provenance: L. Ehrlich...

Käthe Kollwitz, German 1867-1945 - Mutter mit Kind uber der Schulter (Die Darbietung), c.1915; bronze with brown patina, signed and numbered on the base 3/10, stamped with foundry mark 'H. NOACK BERLIN, H46 x D28 x W26 cm Provenance: L. Ehrlich, London, by whom bought at the below exhibition in 1967, and thence by descent to the present owner; Christie's, London, 13th October 1993, lot 122, illus. p.127; The Geoffrey and Fay Elliot collection, purchased from the above and thence by descent Exhibited: Dr. H. Kollwitz & L. Reidemeister, Käthe Kollwitz, Das plastische Werk, Hamburg, 1967, no. 4 (another cast illustrated); London, Marlborough Fine Art Ltd., Ernst Barlach and Käthe Kollwitz, Nov-Dec 1967, no. 57 (illus. p. 47) H. Guratzsch, Käthe Kollwitz, Druckgrafik Handzeichnunmgen, Plastik, Bonn, 1990, no. 16. (another cast illus. p. 66); Note: Kollwitz appears to have been moved to execute this sculpture after the tragic death of her son in Flanders in 1914. A drawing of 1915 relating to the sculpture (Nagel/Timm 724) is mentioned in the artist's Tagebuck where Kollwitz writes, "Ich arbeite an der Darbietun. Ich musste - es war direkt ein Zwang - alles andern. Die Figur bog sich von selbst unter meinen sich und reicht ihr Kind dar. In niedrigster Demut." It is following this where she formulates the motif of 'das opfer' (the victim). This is the first sculpture in which she deals with all sight lines of a sculpture, where the purpose of the work is to be viewed in the round. Kollwitz's work remain as a symbol for the suffering of mothers in the 20th century. Kollwitz is currently the focus of a major exhibition at the Royal Academy, London, 'Making Modernism'.
Please refer to department for condition report Overall in very good condition with minor surface dust and green patina within the crevasses of the sculpture. Slight wear to the high points consistent with age.