Selbstbildnis (Self Portrait)

Renowned for her printmaking, Kollwitz first began to make sculpture in 1904 while visiting Paris, where she studied at the Académie Julian and met Auguste Rodin. She referred to her self-portraits as Selbstbetrachtungen (self-reflections), capturing periods of grief in her life. This stoic, resigned self-portrait dates to more than two decades after the death of her son in World War I, as she continued to mourn his loss. Comparisons to photographs of Kollwitz by other artists in this same period suggest that she depicted herself as slightly older than she actually was—perhaps an attempt to abstract her face into a general type.