Germany's children starve! 1924

Editor: This is "Germany's Children Starve!" a 1924 charcoal drawing by Käthe Kollwitz. There's an urgency in this piece that gets to me, with these children reaching, almost pleading, for something… What feelings stir in you when you see this? Curator: Oh, darling, this image vibrates with a mother’s agony, doesn't it? Kollwitz lost a son in World War I; you can't separate that from the haunting figures she renders here. Look at the children’s upturned faces, all those open, yearning mouths… Does it make you feel a bit breathless? It's not just hunger, it’s a spiritual starvation too, isn't it? The loose charcoal lines, smudged and blurred, add to the feeling of fragility and despair, almost as if the image itself is fading away, much like the children themselves. She lays bare the silent screams of a nation in tatters, picking at the scabs of war. Editor: The "spiritual starvation" is something I hadn’t considered. I was only focused on the obvious deprivation. Curator: Art, like life, has layers, doesn’t it, dear? Kollwitz uses Expressionism, that rawness of feeling, to yank us into the reality she witnessed. But do you feel any sense of…hope amidst the darkness? I feel Kollwitz hopes that by forcing us to LOOK, really SEE, things might change. The bowls might actually get filled, and more. What do you think? Editor: Maybe, just a sliver of it. It's certainly powerful, makes you want to DO something, doesn't it? I definitely see more nuance than I did at first glance. Curator: Exactly! We can bring that to the attention of more viewers. So many voices lost to time - and found anew through art.