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Storming the Gate – Attack,
sheet 5 of the cycle »A Weavers’ Revolt«, 1893–97

Käthe Kollwitz, Storming the Gate – Attack, sheet 5 of the cycle »A Weavers’ Revolt«, 1893–97, line etching and sandpaper, 238 x 295 mm, Kn 37 II a, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70300/84003.
Käthe Kollwitz, Storming the Gate – Attack, sheet 5 of the cycle »A Weavers’ Revolt«, 1893–97, line etching and sandpaper, 238 x 295 mm, Kn 37 II a, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70300/84003.

The fifth sheet in the cycle describes the arrival of the weavers in front of the manufacturer’s house. The men throw cobble stones at the villa-like house, handed to them by a woman. Others attack the splendid garden gate with their axes.

Unlike in Hauptmann’s play »The Weavers« where the group of weavers are offstage, but can be heard shouting their demands, Kollwitz created a visual depiction of the violent uprising. Women and their frightened children are seen in the foreground actively taking part in the revolt.

The gate and the wall, however, appear as an insurmountable barrier in this scene and hints at the doomed attempt of the weavers to storm the house.

Study

Käthe Kollwitz, Gateway, preparatory study for sheet 5 of the cycle »A Weavers’ Revolt«, c. 1896, pencil and pen and ink on brown cardboard, 388 x 505 mm, NT 135a, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70200/98011.
Käthe Kollwitz, Gateway, preparatory study for sheet 5 of the cycle »A Weavers’ Revolt«, c. 1896, pencil and pen and ink on brown cardboard, 388 x 505 mm, NT 135a, Kollwitz Museum Köln, Inv. Nr. 70200/98011.