Arbeiterfrau, 1906 (Working woman) (Facsimile of charcoal drawing on laid paper. Impression from the 1921 Richter portfolio.)

Dresden: Emil Richter Verlag Dresden / Inhaber Dr. R. H. Meier, [ca 1927].. Large format facsimile of the original drawing 22¾ x 17 inches. Very Good+. Protected by transparent sheet and mat board. As published in Käthe Kollwitz / Handzeichnungen / in originalgetreuen Wiedergaben / Emil Richter Verlag Dresden / Inhaber Dr. R. H. Meier. Directed by Fritz Boettger.This portrait of an unknown working class women demonstrates the conflict faced by all employed women in the modern era, the struggle between the requirements of their profession and their role in the family. As a wife and mother, Kollwitz sympathized with such women even though she was one of the lucky few that could afford a domestic servant to help her around the house. This allowed her to work on her art in the mornings and spend time with her family in the evenings. On one hand, Kollwitz expressed the desire to be free of her domestic ties in order to be able to focus more intensely on art. However she also appreciated feeling needed by her husband and two sons. Courageous but strained working class women frequently appeared as subjects in Kollwitz' art.Käthe Kollwitz, née Schmidt (German pronunciation: [kɛːtə kɔlvɪt͡s]), (8 July 1867 – 22 April 1945) was a German artist, who worked with painting, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger, and war on the working class. Despite the realism of her early works, her art is now more closely associated with Expressionism. Kollwitz was the first woman to not only be elected to the Prussian Academy of Arts but to also receive honorary professor status.