An under development Guided Art Inquiry on Kathe Kollwitz's woodcut Die Freiwillige from her portfolio Krieg (@MoMA) to serve as an entry point for both a sources-based Contemporary History class and an Art Activity. Please offer your comments!

1. Die Freiwillige from her portfolio titled Krieg
KÄTHE KOLLWITZ

2. Käthe Kollwitz said that she made this work to come to terms with the years 1914-1918 in
Germany. These are the dates of WWI.

3. • Would you identify
the figure on your
left who leads the
group? How did
you think?
• Towards where
does this figure
lead? Whom does
it lead?
• Watch the gestures
of this figure: how
would you interpret
the way it uses its
right hand? Note
how this figure
grips the next –
what can you infer
from this grip?

4. • Would you identify
the two objects that
the leading figure
holds and carries?
• How did you think?

5. • Would you identify
the couple of
figures who come
next? How did you
think?
• What may the first
of these two feel for
the grip by the
leading figure?
• Watch the
expression of the
face; What
emotions do you
feel that this
expression
reveals?
• Can you see this
figure’s hands?
• How does this second figure connect to the third?
• What emotions emanate form the third figure’s facial expression and movement? Consider the
movement of its left hand (on your right-hand).
• To whom belongs the hand on this figure’s right shoulder (on your left-hand)?

6. • What are the
emotions of the
fourth figure? How
did you think?
• Where its right hand
(on your left-hand)
lays upon?
• What would you
infer about the bond
of this figure to the
third?
• What are the
emotions of the two
last figures (Watch
carefully their
gesturing hands,
their open mouths) ?
• How do they
connect to the fourth
figure?

7. • What do you notice
first?
• How is the work
balanced (or not
balanced)?
• How does Kollwitz
create a sense of
movement?
• Where are the figures
marching to?
• Where do they move
away from?
• Would you connect
what you observed to
the title of the work?
• What do you think
that this work state
about Germany at
the beginning of
WWI? What in the
work makes you say
that?

8. • Did you notice the
curves above the
figures?
• What do they make
you think of? How do
you feel they add to
the composition?
• Do you feel there
exist some comment
by the painter?
Would you try some
interpretation”?
• How did you think?

9. • Did you noticed the
dense vertical lines
above all of the
figures?
• What do they make
think you of? How did
you reason?

10. • Watch how Käthe
Kollwitz wanted not
to represent the
lower part of the
bodies. Would you
risk any logical guess
about that choice by
the painter?
• Do you think this
choice adds to or
diminishes the overall
impression of her
work on the viewer?
Please explain your
thinking.

11. • What is the overall
mood? What do you
see in the artwork
that makes you say
that?
• What is the setting?
Describe it.
• Who are the
characters? Describe
their posture,
clothing, social class,
facial expression,
gender, age, and
race. How do multiple
characters interact
with one another?
• What emotions do
the characters
display? What in the
artwork makes you
say this?
• What is happening?
What do you see that
makes you say this?

12. A HOMEWORK FOR NEXT WEEK’S CLASS
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING AND PRESENT YOUR WORK NEXT WEEK (3min)
1. Imagine you are Käthe Kollwitz, and you
write a 400-words entry to your journal
before you begin the actual artwork;
explain:
• Why will you choose the woodcut
technique;
• What place will you assign to this
piece in the your portfolio titled
War;
• How do you personally connect to
this piece;
• The arrangement of the figures;
• What you need to persuade the
viewers about volunteering in
the/any war
2. Imagine you are an art critic in December
1932 Weimar Germany, and you write a
600-words text:,
• Critically presenting Kollwitz’s
woodcut The Volunteers,
• Presenting and explaining the
opposing views of Kollwitz’s artwork
(remember that around 1930s there
is a rising pro-Nazi current in
German society).

13. A HOMEWORK FOR NEXT WEEK’S CLASS
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING AND PRESENT YOUR WORK NEXT WEEK (3min)
3. Prepare a collage to answer the
question “what made so many Germans
adopt a pro-war attitude during the inter-
war period?” Explicitly refer to Kollwitz’s
woodcut
4. Paint a triptych in the style of a woodcut.
Use The Volunteers as the panel in the
middle; what would you paint in the left
(before) and right (after) panel?
5. Make a 3 min. video using plans of The
Volunteers and one of the following:
• Music that you relate to the picture
• Subs to hint at specific points
• Voice-over to comment
6. Work in team: actors and a director are
to video a performance explicitly inspired
by The Volunteers

14. DON’T FORGET TO BRING IN
• Your homework;
• Your presentation notes;
• One question that connects to The
Volunteers and remains unanswered
after you are done with your study and
your homework;
write it on a piece of paper and drop it
in the box on the teacher’s table;
• Your K-W-L diagram.
WE SHALL
• Have the presentations of homework
done;
• Have a short time for answering
unanswered questions;
• Fill in the L column of the K-W-L
diagram as a culminating activity.
FOR NEXT CLASS