Sitzende Frau mit zwei Kindern 

Dora Hitz made this charcoal drawing, Seated Woman with Two Children, sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century. It shows a woman and her children in an intimate moment. The sketch can be read in relation to the emerging women’s movement in Germany at the time. Hitz was part of the Berlin Secession, a group of artists breaking away from the traditional art establishment. The Secession provided a space for female artists, who were often excluded from the mainstream art world and institutions. A crucial aspect of studying works like this is to consider the social conditions that shaped artistic production, and how these artists challenged existing social norms. By researching the Secession and reading contemporary feminist texts, we can better understand the work. Art is always contingent on its social and institutional context.