1. Michelangelo
Pieta,
Marble
This comparative study is an exploration of emotion and vulnerability in the German expressionist art of Max Beckmann and Käthe Kollwitz. Due to the trauma and revolutionary changes of the early 1900’s, these works, which were created in Germany within a relatively short span of years, are disparate in content, medium, technique, and formal qualities. The Kollwitz pieces to be examined were influenced conceptually by Michelangelo's Pieta; it is critical that those connections be examined as well.
Max Beckman
Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
oil on canvas
Käthe Kollwitz
Woman with Dead Child, 1903
etching
Käthe Kollwitz
Pietà, /39
bronze

2. Cultural Significance of Max Beckmann’s Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
Background photo -

3. Analysis of Formal Qualities in Max Beckman’s
Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
Beckman creates the illusion of space by painting the buildings using two point perspective. There is little negative space in the composition overall, as there are figures cluttering the foreground, middle ground and background. The lack of negative space intensifies the pandemonium.
These lines are not completely vertical, giving the sense that the buildings are either in motion or about to fall.
The composition is dominated by the organic shapes that constitute human forms. The only exceptions are the rectangles that form the buildings and doorways in the background, but even these are not perfect geometric shapes. The lack of formality in shape reflects the chaotic and irregular nature of the scene.
The two main points of emphasis in this work are the only figures whose faces can be clearly seen. One sits slumped in the foreground, almost centrally. This figure is the largest and brightest, possibly because the emotion shown on his face sets the tone for the entire work. The second focal point is the contorted man in the central middle ground. His grotesque form adds to the horror of the scene.
Beckmann uses several values of a few cool hues. The use of a limited number of colors implies a continuous field of havoc. The overall darkness of the composition mirrors the despair and immorality pervading the scene. The darkness also suggests a hellish nighttime. Warm colors are sparsely used, and only to create flesh and blood, emphasizing human mortality.
The jumble of figures defined by curved lines creates movement that keeps the viewers eye in constant motion. The many figures which appear to be mid-action, with raised arms or bent knees, contribute to the sense of movement within the work. The ruins of buildings indicate that movement has occurred.
Beckmann creates texture on clothes using highlights and shadows. He also emulates the jagged debris-filled ground with thick, choppy, linear brushstrokes.
Beckmann, Max (German b.1884)
Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
Oil on canvas x cm
St. Louis Art Museum
The asymmetrical balance also creates a sense of movement. While the piece is not symmetrical in a linear sense, Beckmann attempts to balance the piece by juxtaposing standing figures on opposite sides of the painting, each amidst crouching or fallen figures.

4. Function of Max Beckmann’s Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
Max Beckmann despised the turn towards abstraction in modern art. He thought the works of Matisse, Picasso, and Gaugin, which were without spatial depth and realistic skin tones, lacked artistry and objectivity (208). In Scene from the Destruction of Messina Beckmann aims to "get hold of the magic of reality and to transfer this reality into painting.” He does this using only oil paint and canvas, in the style of Expressionism, to prevent technical distractions from diluting the painting's impact.
Beckmann portrays men fighting against other men, and also against nature. The painting, then, serves to present a “modern metaphor of man’s current situation in his daily struggle for survival” (207).
Elger, Dietmar Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art (2002) p
photo -

5. Purpose of Max Beckmann’s Scene from the Destruction of Messina, 1909
"My heart beats more for a rougher, commoner, more vulgar art...one that offers direct access to the terrible, the crude, the magnificent, the ordinary, the grotesque and the banal in life. An art that can always be right there for us, in the realest things of life.“
- Max Beckmann
"I believe that essentially I love painting so much because it forces me to be objective. There is nothing I hate more than sentimentality. The stronger my determination grows to grasp the unutterable things of this world, the deeper and more powerful the emotion burning inside me about our existence, the tighter I try to keep my mouth shut and the harder I try to capture the terrible thrilling monster of life's vitality and to confine it, to beat it down and to strangle it with crystal clear, razor-sharp lines and planes..."
Beckmann painted this scene because he was drawn to the crude reality of an account he read about escaped convicts after the earthquake at Messina. He did not paint this convulsing gruesome image simply to shock and horrify viewers with the tragedy of the event, he painted it because it was real. He wanted to portray man in his most natural state, struggling for survival. Beckmann painted Scene from the Destruction of Messina in an attempt to capture raw humanity with all of its emotion, vulnerability, and truth.
"Max Beckmann Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." <i>The Art Story</i>. The Art Story Foundation. Web. 29 Nov <

6. Cultural Significance of Käthe Kollwitz’s Woman with Dead Child, 1903
This etching belongs to the Kollwitz’s 1903 series “Woman with Dead Child,” which began with the Pieta image and shifted to something without religious connotations. Though the work depicts a mother mourning for her dead child, this did not reflect any experiences in Kollwitz’s life at the time. However, her son Peter who posed for the child in this etching later died serving in World War I.
"Woman with Dead Child." <i>Literature, Arts, Medicine Database</i>. NYU Langone Medical Center, 12 Mar Web. 01 Jan <
Käthe Kollwitz
Woman with Dead Child, 1903
etching
Kathe Kollwitz ( ), who was born in Germany, was largely influenced by death in her life and art, with the dead child serving as a recurring theme (Knafo 24). Three of her siblings died, and her mother became emotionally dead as a result (24). Kollwitz was consumed by these deaths and identified with the dead mother and child she so frequently portrayed (24). Kollwitz suffered from depression, and “throughout her life struggled to transcend death by giving birth to images of humanity in the face of grief, sorrow, and irrevocable loss” (24). By creating this most haunting image, and displaying it for the viewer to struggle with, Kollwitz challenges death’s element of surprise and in effect its power (24). She further attempts to strip death of its authority by casting “death with an immortal beauty, reducing its unconscious power by imbuing the tragedy of loss and destruction with a transcendent luminescence” (24).
Kollwitz’s art was influenced by German Expressionist traditions of conveying internal and societal realities through the human figure (25). As the ideas of psychoanalysis began to circulate at the beginning of the 20th century, artists like Kollwitz began to focus on the subjective and the emotional (25). This turn towards the internal motivated Kollwitz’s focus on the woman’s mind rather than her body (25). She depicts the powerfully emotive faces of women, stricken by poverty and grief (25). This marks a departure from the traditional view of women in that oppressive era, from object to subject (25). Her works proved that women could control their own image. Kollwitz strayed from the idealistic model of a woman, instead depicting the suffering of strong, working class women.
Knafo, Danielle. Käthe Kollwitz: The Dead Mother (1992) p

7. Analysis of Formal Qualities in Käthe Kollwitz’s Woman with Dead Child, 1903
The curving lines of the figure soften the composition, while the horizontal and vertical lines layered within the figures create a sense of solidity and stability.
Kollwitz creates a rough, cracked texture on the woman’s skin using crosshatching and shading.
There is no symmetry in this work, yet a sense of balance arises. The instability created by the raised knee is balanced out by the stability of the resting knee.
Dark outlines reinforce the oneness of these figures, suggesting that they melt into one solid organic shape.
The strength and solidity of the mother is emphasized her enormity relative to the slight, withering child.
The work is dominated by positive space. By filling the frame the artist emphasizes feelings of love and togetherness, rather than expounding on the mother’s despair by portraying the figures in isolation.
The mother’s bicep, shin, back, and shoulder are angled in towards the child’s head and body, so as to lead the viewers eye there. The clenched muscles as well as the teetering knee and foot suggest movement.
This work is done in black and white which creates drama while also building on the somber, serious nature of the subject. Grey was used in the negative space to ground the figure.
Kollwitz, Käthe (German b. 1867)
Woman with Dead Child, 1903
Etching 39 x 48 cm
Käthe Kollwitz Museum

8. Interpretation of function and Purpose of Käthe Kollwitz’s Woman with Dead Child, 1903
This work is an etching, meaning it can be printed multiple times so as to be more easily distributed. It is possible that Kollwitz wanted to spread this image of suffering, a nontraditional woman, and of transcendence to magnify its impact.
Kollwitz’s art documents her introspection, she used her work “as a means of arriving at emotional truths for the purpose of healing” (Knafo 25). Woman with a Dead Child may have been created as a sort of therapy, to help Kollwitz cope with the tragedies in her life, and to aid in her self-reflection. The features of the woman closely resemble Kollwitz herself, although another woman posed for this etching. This supports the idea that with this piece, “Kollwitz charted the painful and moving adventures of her psychological and emotional development” (25).
Knafo, Danielle. Käthe Kollwitz: The Dead Mother (1992) p.25.

9. Cultural Significance, Purpose, and Function of Käthe Kollwitz’s Pietà, 1937-38/39
Michelangelo (Italian b. 1475)
Pieta,
Marble 5′ 9″ x 6′ 5″
St. Peter’s Basilica
Pietà means “pity” or “mercy” in Italian. In Christian art a pieta image is one of Christ after his removal from the cross, accompanied by a grieving Madonna. The Pietà originated in German gothic art in the mid-13th century. It then spread to Italy during the early Renaissance. It was there that the most famous Pietà sculpture was crafted by Michelangelo, in the year This Pietà is significant for its portrayal of Mary as young and beautiful, reflecting her inner purity and closeness to God, the source of all beauty. It is also distinct in that the Virgin appears reflective rather than grief stricken, as in the typical Pietà. Christ is depicted with utmost realism, and Mary’s hand is outstretched as if accepting her fate. This meditative quality is reflected in Käthe Kollwitz’s Pietà;
“On the anniversary of her son Peter's death in 1914 the artist noted in her diary in 1937: ‘I am working on a small sculpture which has developed out of my attempt to make a sculpture of an old person. It has become something like a Pietà. The mother is seated and has her dead son lying between her knees in her lap. There is no longer pain - only reflection’.”
Kollwitz’s Pietà contrasts from Michelangelo’s in that the son is huddled between his mother’s knees, rather than being presented to the viewer. Both men, one a soldier and one a religious martyr, represent a sacrifice made for the greater good. The boy in Kollwitz’s work is of course her son Peter, who died fighting in World War I, leading Kollwitz to become a pacifist. She began creating her pieta during the interwar year of Hitler had come to power in Germany, and in the Nazi party began confiscating “degenerate art” from museums, including the works of Käthe Kollwitz.
Käthe Kollwitz’s Pietà was originally intended as intimate memorial for her son Peter and for herself. She did not see it as a religious piece. In 1993 an enlarged version of Kollwitz’s Pietà was erected in Berlin’s “Royal Guard House” as a memorial for the victims on World War II. This was controversial because of its Christian overtones and emphasis on the dead of First World War. Nevertheless, Kollwitz’s Pietà helped the entire country of Germany heal after World War II.
"Pietà." Pieta in Art: Image of Virgin Mary Holding Dead Christ. Visual-arts-cork.com, n.d. Web. 01 Jan <
"Pietà, /39." Tour - War. Kathe Kollwitz Museum, Web. 01 Jan <
Watling, Lucy. "Käthe Kollwitz and Berlin's Neue Wache." The Culture Trip. The Culture Trip Ltd, Web. 01 Jan < wache/>.

10. Analysis of Formal Qualities in Käthe Kollwitz’s Pietà, 1937-38/39
The lack of definite horizontal and vertical lines emphasizes the humanity of the event and its place in nature. The diagonal lines created by the child’s limbs suggests that they fell that way, and evoke a heaviness. The somber mood of the work is softened by the curved lines of the mother’s body and the fabric she wears.
Kollwitz creates the illusion of fabric using curved, fluid lines. The bronze in these areas, and on the figures’ skin appears smooth. The base is a rough texture, and looks to be sharp in some areas.
The work feels very stable, with the weight distributed pyramid style (heaviest at the bottom and lightest at the top). The piece is not symmetrical.
The majority of the sculpture is composed of organic forms, but the base consists of harsh geometric forms. They appear cold and hard, adding to the desolation of the scene.
Kollwitz emphasizes the faces by giving them deeply pained expressions. The child’s body is also emphasized, because is lays mostly bare, as apposed to the mother’s body which is covered in fabric.
The sculpture is three dimensional, yet it takes up little space because of its relatively small dimensions. If the sculpture was displayed in a large room the vast amount of negative space would highlight the vulnerability and isolation of the figures.
The pyramid shape of the sculpture leads the viewers eye from the highest point, the mother’s face, down the middle of the piece to the child’s face and body.
The sculpture is bronze which has darkened in some places and calcified in others. The color will continue to change overtime, serving to contrast the constancy of death.
Kollwitz, Kathe (German b.1867)
Pietà /39
Bronze 38 x 28.5 x 39 cm
Käthe Kollwitz Museum

11. Cultural Significance, Purpose, and Function of Michelangelo's Pietà, 1498-1500
Michelangelo lived in Rome from In 1947 a French Cardinal named Jean de Billheres commissioned Michelangelo to create a sculpture for what would be the Cardinal’s tomb in St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, Italy. The Pietà depicts the Virgin Mary holding dead Christ. This is one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, or monumental incidents in the Virgin’s life, which were often the subject of Catholic devotional prayers. This image would have been common in Germany and France at the time, but not yet popularized in Italy. Multi-figured sculptures were also a rarity during the Renaissance, so the Pietà was groundbreaking in this way.
Michelangelo (Italian b. 1475)
Pieta,
Marble 5′ 9″ x 6′ 5″
St. Peter’s Basilica
Michelangelo manages to capture the devastation of the Virgin Mary while still carving her in an idealized and beautiful way. Christ’s figure is idealized as well, he appears to be sleeping rather than dead, and there is little evidence of the immense suffering he endured. The beauty of these figures, despite their anguish, echoes the common High Renaissance belief that beauty on earth was a reflection of God’s beauty. This sculpture stands as a testament to the beauty and graciousness of God. At the time of the Pietà’s completion critics felt that the Virgin appeared too young to have been the mother of a 33 year old son. Michelangelo responded that virgins retained their youth and beauty longer than women who were unchaste. The Pietà is the only work that Michelangelo ever signed, perhaps because he believed it to be the most perfect, and people of 16th century and every century since concur. The work was immediately famous, serving to increase Michelangelo's notoriety and the prominence of the Pietà image.
"Michelangelo's Pieta." <i>Analysis of the Art of Renaissance Italy</i>. ItalianRenaissance.org, 23 July Web. 20 Jan <

12. Analysis of Formal Qualities in Michelangelo's Pietà, 1458-1501
Although the heads are proportional , Mary’s body is much larger than Christ’s . This was necessary for Christ to be able to lay across Mary’s lap, but it is not solely technical. Mary ‘s size speaks to her importance and inner strength.
Space is made apparent within this work, with Mary’s protruding lap and the realistic dimension of the fabric. The use of space contributes to the realism of the scene and thus adds to its emotionality.
The figures were sculpted as if they are a unified form, emphasizing the bond between mother and child. The figures form a pyramid shape , something which was common during the Renaissance. The shape suggests, again, Mary’s strength, and adds drama to piece.
The pyramid shape of the work creates a sense of balance and sturdiness , which contrasts with Christ’s limp form.
The curves of the fabric, the direction of Mary’s gaze, as well as the tilt of Mary’s head direct the viewer’s eye to Christ’s body. Mary’s splayed flingers under Christ’s right arm suggest that she is actively holding him up. This movement creates a sense of immediacy that puts the viewer in Mary’s position, forcing them to feel her exertion at holding her son’s weighty, limp body.
The work is dominated by the curved lines of the human anatomy, and of the drapery Michelangelo created. Theses lines bring a softness to the marble and to the work, helping to lighten the somber scene.
The smoothness of the marble adds to the aura of beauty and piousness surrounding the Virgin. Michelangelo very successfully created the appearance and texture of fabric with folds and recesses. The fabric serves to make Mary look larger, but was also an opportunity for Michelangelo to exhibit his expert craftsmanship.
Michelangelo (Italian b. 1475)
Pieta,
Marble 5′ 9″ x 6′ 5″
St. Peter’s Basilica

13. Making Comparisons and Connections
Death caused by weapons
heaviness of dead bodies
Sharp, rocky ground
Artist depicts fabric, using line and shading to create texture
Include necks which have been thrust back, left exposed
Scene from the Destruction of Messina
Pietà
German expressionism
Early 20th century
Realism
Common themes: death, struggle for survival, tragedy, violence
Show a vulnerability
Emotional
Depict the human form
Death of males in particular
Bare and bent limbs
Limited negative space
Use contrast between dark and light colors to add drama
Mostly dark to convey the seriousness of the subject
Completed between the years
Artist is Käthe Kollwitz
Depict a mother mourning her dead child (Pietà image)
Reflect Kollwitz’s lifelong struggle with death
Created to cope with feelings of grief
Portray a non-idealistic and working woman
Expressive face and body
Resemble Kollwitz herself
Make a social/political statement about violence and oppression
Woman with Dead Child

14. References
Parrinello, Giacomo Fault Lines: Earthquakes and Urbanism in Modern Italy (2015) p Elger, Dietmar Expressionism: A Revolution in German Art (2002) p "Max Beckmann Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works." <i>The Art Story</i>. The Art Story Foundation. Web. 29 Nov < "Woman with Dead Child." <i>Literature, Arts, Medicine Database</i>. NYU Langone Medical Center, 12 Mar Web. 01 Jan < Knafo, Danielle. Käthe Kollwitz: The Dead Mother (1992) p "Pietà." Pieta in Art: Image of Virgin Mary Holding Dead Christ. Visual-arts-cork.com, n.d. Web. 01 Jan < "Pietà, /39." Tour - War. Kathe Kollwitz Museum, Web. 01 Jan < Watling, Lucy. "Käthe Kollwitz and Berlin's Neue Wache." The Culture Trip. The Culture Trip Ltd, Web. 01 Jan < "Michelangelo's Pieta." <i>Analysis of the Art of Renaissance Italy</i>. ItalianRenaissance.org, 23 July Web. 20 Jan <