Tod und Frau (Woman and Death) portrays the tormented figure of a woman, her head pulled back and her body straining against a shadowy figure who clutches her from behind. Close inspection of the densely hatched silhouette reveals the figure of Death, his skull visible over the woman’s right shoulder and his bony knee juxtaposed against her fleshy leg. A second grasping figure – a naked child – launches themselves at the woman’s breast in desperation. Kollwitz imbues the scene with a muscular energy, combining various printmaking tools and techniques in an almost painterly way to suggest the existential tension in this battle between life and death.
Born to a politically progressive family, Kollwitz established herself in an art world dominated by men by depicting universal human experiences communicated with great compassion and emotional power. A highly experimental printmaker, her works focused throughout her life on the circumstances of women and the working classes, as well as the human struggle against social injustice and oppression. Writing in her diary, Kollwitz declared:
I felt that I have no right to withdraw from the responsibility of being an advocate. It is my duty to voice the sufferings of men . . .This is my task, but it is not an easy one to fulfil.