Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945)


Die Bittstellerinnen signed 'Kollwitz' (lower right)pastel and charcoal on paper19 x 24 3/4 in (48.3 x 62.9 cm)Executed circa 1908
|The authenticity of this work has been confirmed by Dr. Hannelore Fischer.ProvenanceDr. Otto Kallir, Vienna & New York.Galerie St. Etienne, New York.Acquired from the above in September 1955.ExhibitedCambridge, Busch-Reisinger Museum, Twentieth-Century Germanic Art from Private Collections in Greater Boston, March 23 - May 1, 1961, no. 10.61.The present work was first in the collection of acclaimed art historian, author, publisher, and gallerist, Otto Kallir. Fleeing from Nazi persecution, Kallir emigrated to the United States in 1939 and brought with him a significant inventory from his Neue Galerie in Vienna. That same year Kallir established Galerie St. Etienne, where he introduced Austrian and German expressionist art to the United States. Through his gallery Kallir held the first American one-person shows for artists such as Gustav Klimt, Oscar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele, and he collaborated with museum directors to organize the first major exhibitions of Austrian expressionist art at major American museums.