"The expression of profound emotion through portrayals of the human body"
This weekend I went to the Making Modernism exhibition at The Royal Academy. The exhibition celebrated several 20th century female artist, but my primary reason for visiting was to see Kollwitz work first hand.
I am drawn to Kollwitz work because of how powerfully she captures raw emotion in her drawings, something I really want to improve on myself. It was immensely useful to see her work close up, noticing the subtle yet strong lines made with pencils and charcoal (two materials I use a lot and again, want to improve my technique with).
The following drawing, Woman with Dead Child was so sad to look at but also somehow pulled you in to the moment of tragedy as if you were there yourself. I think as a parent it was impossible not to look at this piece and feel deeply moved. Was Kollwitz able to portray this feeling down to personal experience only? To what extent does her use of expressive line and composition of a central, physical being so central on the page create impact?
I was interested to see that in quite a few of Kollwitz's drawings the hands of the figures appear to be slightly larger than life and I wondered why that was.
Some key things I can take here into my own work:
'evolved through several drawings from life'
'gradually refined composition'
'maximum emotional impact'
'stripped back clothing'
There was real contrast between the visceral, dark and dramatic drawings and the lighter more delicate ones, where lighter pencil has been used and the marks made with great subtlety and tenderness.
I was struck by how much the pose; drama and marks were reminiscent of Michelangelo's.
As part of my continued practice, I will be looking at Kollwitz's work in more detail. I really want to be able to portray more emotion in my drawing and for them to have a poignancy and power that at the moment I feel alludes them. I wonder whether this is because I've been drawing semi abstract figures (partly to elude my tendency to lean towards the Pre-Raphaelites and partly because recently my 'figures' have been a hybrid between human and standing stone) - when in fact perhaps there's a way to find a happy medium? I can certainly relate to the complexities of motherhood that Kollwitz was exploring. think I need to keep connected with life drawing, anatomy and more representational figures, trying to convey emotion and see what comes from it.
I did a couple of very quick sketches after seeing the exhibition and will add to this post as I develop these further.