Mutter mit Kind auf dem Arm 1916

Here's a lithograph called 'Mother with Child in her Arms' by Kathe Kollwitz. The black crayon strokes are simple, but they capture such tenderness; it's like the entire scene is being held together by empathy. Look at how the lines cradle the figures, especially around the child's face. You can almost feel the warmth and weight of the embrace, right? I bet Kollwitz was thinking about connection when she made this – how we hold each other, protect each other. It reminds me of Paula Modersohn-Becker’s paintings. There is something so human and vulnerable in the way she renders form. The child's patterned shirt, rendered in stark diagonals, contrasts with the mother's smudged features. The artist leaves so much unsaid, and the rest is filled in by our own feelings. Artists are always responding to each other, across time, aren’t they?