Frau mit Kind im Arm

German artist Käthe Kollwitz is celebrated for her touching drawings, prints and sculptures of the urban poor, often focusing on mothers and children. She trained at art schools for women in Berlin and Munich and is closely associated with German Expressionism. This was acquired by the Huntarian along with another of Kollwitz's charcoal drawings, Drei Studien einer klagenden Frau. Both these signed drawings represent the artist’s most characteristic subject, that of women’s suffering. In Frau mit Kind im Arm we see a grim-faced mother clasping a baby to her chest.

UK public collections have strong holdings of Kollwitz’s prints, but there are thought to be only two drawings by the artist in British institutions. The Hunterian’s acquisition of these examples is, therefore, a significant addition both for the city of Glasgow and for the nation as a whole.