How to look at the images?
The experience of mourning in the First World War through the work of Käthe Kollwitz (1914-1945)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5433/2237-9126.2024.v18.50109Keywords:
First World War, Cultural history, Memory, Art, GriefAbstract
The present work aims to propose methodological suggestions for the analysis of artistic images from the First World War. We start with the works of German artist Käthe Kollwitz who, influenced by the loss of her son in the conflict, developed a body of work that addresses civil experience and mourning. Converging with the propositions of Georges Didi-Huberman (2013), the article brings a methodological reflection on how to interpret artistic images of war, challenging closed interpretations and emphasizing the fluidity of art. From the perspective of cultural memory, especially based on the propositions of Jay Winter (2014), we also seek to identify the mobilization of symbologies of cultural tradition and their remediation, as conceived by Astrid Erll. We observed how they would have allowed Kollwitz to express her personal experience of loss and at the same time counteract a patriotic narrative of sacralization of the conflict, through her work.
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