Kekoa Paki Arts

By Kekoa Paki

Hello reader.

I recently did some research on Kathe Kollwitz as a part of my creation of The “Peace Maker,” which you can learn about here. I was really struck by the way she was able to use charcoal to depict human suffering. So, I did some studies of her work with graphite and decided I would analyze one of her pieces called “Death, Woman, and Child, 1910.”

Now, when I’m analyzing a piece of visual art, I like to first ask myself: What am I seeing? Then, I use the 7 elements of art to further understand the composition of the piece and why the artist created it in the manner they did.

1.) What am I seeing?

I see a mother and child embracing. They appear to be sleeping/resting. The mother is holding the child’s face and hand. A skull is in the top right of the picture. A skeletal hand reaches across the infant. In the left of the picture, a line descends from a breast.

2.) Line

• The line created by the skeletal arm and the mother’s hand lead the viewer’s eye to the two faces, which are the focal point of this piece.
• The lines of the mother’s and infant’s mouths and noses lead into each other, reinforcing the pair’s connection.
• The line descending from the breast under the arm adds visual interest to a negative space in the composition and invokes the idea of a mother’s breast milk waning due to illness.
• The line created by the infant’s odd placement in the scene evokes the idea of descent.

3.) Shape

• The shape of the mother’s hair and hand frame the pair’s faces in an interesting way.
• The shadow of the pair’s noses creates the shape of a heart, a symbol of love.

4.) Form

• The skeletal form of the arm invokes the idea of death as does the skull in the top left.
• The form of the infant’s clothing evokes the organic structure of bone, which connects it to the skull in the top left.

5.) Space

• The hair and hand of the woman frame the pair’s faces in an interesting way.
• The skull is hidden behind the infant’s clothes, invoking ideas of secrecy and of something being hidden.
• There is a compelling balance of positive and negative space in the composition.

6.) Value

• Value is used to add variety and visual interest to the negative spaces in the piece,
• The piece uses a wide range of values which makes the piece very striking

7.) Colour

• The piece is rendered in grayscale which evokes a feeling of sorrow and despair.
• Colour is used to represent the presence of different characters in the piece, with white being tied to the skull in the top left and black being connected to the mother’s hair. While the infant’s mind is close to the comfort of their mother, their body is marked by the influence of the skull.

8.) Texture

• The mother, infant, and breast are all rendered to look soft which evokes comfort.
• The infant’s clothes resemble the texture of bane, which ties them to the influence of the skull.

Conclusion:

This piece is very interesting. It evokes the idea of a mother caring for a child while knowing the child is sick and close to death.

For whatever reason, despite the pair’s eyes being closed, which is usually used to signify obliviousness, I get the sense the mother knows death has already claimed her child. It’s like she’s holding her child closer to her than she ever had before because she’s aware they won’t be around much longer, but that’s somewhat based on vibes.

Anyways, what’s your interpretation of this piece? Let me know your thoughts on this piece and add to the discussion.

And with that said, thanks for reading this blog post, have a nice day.

From,

Kekoa Paki