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Erwerbslos (Unemployed), from the Proletariat series
Erwerbslos (Unemployed), from the Proletariat series

Erwerbslos (Unemployed), from the Proletariat series

Artist/Maker (German, 1867–1945)
Date1925
MediumWoodcut
DimensionsImage: 14 × 11 7/8 in. (35.6 × 30.2 cm)
Sheet: 25 × 19 5/8 in. (63.5 × 49.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Carl Schurz Memorial Foundation
Edition97/100
PortfolioProletariat
Object number1934.24
Status
Not on view
CopyrightPublic domainMore Information
Kollwitz's commitment to using her art as social commentary increased as she turned to lithography and woodcuts, which replaced etching as her preferred media. After the turbulence of the war and the failed Weimar Republic, Kollwitz solidified her choice to make art that would serve the people. Unemployment captures the misery and desperation prevalent in the Weimar economy with innovative skill, representing her traumatized subjects as the white negative space in a pervading darkness and sense of gloom.
Exhibition History
The Great Woodcut Revival
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH ( 1982 - 1982 )
From Expressionism to the New Objectivity: German Prints and Drawings, 1905-1945
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (June 28, 1988 - August 21, 1988 )
Utopia and Alienation: German Art and Expressionism, 1900-1935
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 17, 1999 - December 19, 1999 )
Teaching Exhibition: European and American Prints from the Collection
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 17, 2005 - December 23, 2005 )
"To Make Things Visible": Art in the Shadow of World War I
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 3, 2009 - June 7, 2009 )
Transformation: Images of Childhood and Adolescence
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (September 1, 2015 - December 23, 2015 )
A Century of Women in Prints, 1917-2017
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (August 8, 2017 - December 8, 2017 )
Collections
  • Modern & Contemporary
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.