Black crayon, blotted, on drawing paper, NT 963
This drawing is one of several impressive works in which Death is represented floating up with a dead figure in a diagonal movement. They were all created in 1923, around the birthday of her son Peter who fell in the First World War, while the artist was working on an introductory sheet for her portfolio »Farewell and Death«, as a diary entry reveals:
It is the time of Peter’s birthday. On that very day I worked on drafts for the introductory sheet for the Propyläen work ›Death and Farewell‹. Peter was with me again.«
Käthe Kollwitz, Diaries, February 1923
It may be assumed that it is the figure of Peter that is represented in all these drafts and who is seen floating upwards with Death – this is also the case in the work mentioned below (NT 967) which the catalogue raisonné lists as »Death and Woman, floating up«.
Käthe Kollwitz, Death with Peter, gliding upwards, 1922/1923, blotted, on Ingres paper, NT 967