Käthe Kollwitz

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*Mother with Two Children*

Käthe Kollwitz. Mother with Two Children. 1932-36, cast 1958

Bronze, 30 7/8 × 33 11/16 × 30 1/2" (78.5 × 85.5 × 77.5 cm). Kunstmuseen Krefeld

Podcaster, Tamar Avishai: I think that before I had children myself, I would’ve seen myself as the child in this image, and now I see myself as the mother.

My name is Tamar Avishai and I am the creator and host of The Lonely Palette podcast.

This sculpture depicts a mother's body just completely enveloping two children. One looks to be about four and the other a new baby. The fingers are a little long. They’re really holding you in and cradling you and protecting you. There is so much hand-holding and touching with hands that happens in motherhood, I think that she was really tapping into something.

Curator, Starr Figura: The other thing that she does with this sculpture is they’re all naked squatting down on the ground. It’s not this pretty scene in a domestic setting. The whole thing forms a sphere, this great circle, the idea of this sort of elemental form that conveys a universal, almost cosmic force.

Most of her sculptures are really about memorializing love. How fascinating is that to think about? We usually memorialize war heroes, and she's memorializing maternal love.