Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945)
Autograph letter signed (‘Käthe Kollwitz’) to ‘Herr [Adolph] Meyerdiercks’, Berlin, 24 January 1922
In German. 4 pages, 179 x 145mm, bifolium; envelope. [With] a letter by Karl Kollwitz with an autograph postscript signed by Käthe Kollwitz to 'Frau Zadets’, Berlin, 23 October 1932, 2½ pages. Provenance: 1) stamp of 'Handschriften-Sammlung: Adolph Meyerdiercks, Hamburg'; Roy Davids Ltd., 25 May 1998; 2) J.A. Stargadt, 10-11 June 1980, lot 631.

On her series of woodcuts inspired by the First World War. To Meyerdiercks, Kollwitz expresses her pleasure at hearing 'that my work is valuable to aspiring fellow human beings' ('daß meine Arbeit strebenden Mitmenschen wertvoll ist'), and regrets that she has no drawings suitable to be given to him immediately. She is however working on a series of woodcuts inspired by the war: 'Up to now I have not been able to grasp the war – not the war outside, but the war that I, my husband, and all of us experienced here at home'. Once the woodcuts are completed, she will be able to give him some examples of the preparatory drawings. She suggests that Meyerdiercks come to Berlin to make his choice.

In the letter of 23 October 1932, Karl and Käthe Kollwitz write to than the recipient for her words at the funeral of Käthe's older brother, the Social-Democratic economist and journalist Conrad Schmidt (who had died on 14 October 1932): Käthe notes 'Mein armer Bruder hat es sehr schwer gehabt‘.
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