war
by Steven McCabe
I wanted to say something and ‘borrowed’ more powerful work than my own to do so.
I wanted to say something about what is happening to the bodies & minds of children, to brothers & sisters, to young people, to mothers & fathers, to grandmothers & grandfathers in Gaza, Palestine. To their pets, homes, and possessions: their photographs, clothing, toys. To their health and their future.
“I have told my sons that they are not under any circumstances to take part in massacres, and that the news of massacres of enemies is not to fill them with satisfaction or glee.
“I have also told them not to work for companies which make massacre machinery, and to express contempt for people who think they need machinery like that.”
— Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five, Or The Children’s Crusade : A Duty-dance with Death (1969)
Follow the Tate link to find out more about the Kathe Kollwitz series of woodcuts titled War.
Like many, I am familiar with Kathe Kollwitz’s great skill and mastery in emotional imagery addressing war. She lost one of her two sons to WW1. She lost her grandson to WW2.
Like many, I have read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut, a great writer and literary artist who as a prisoner of war (in WW2) experienced the firebombing of Dresden, Germany.
I do not claim copyright to the work of Kathe Kollwitz and use it for non-commercial purposes of education & commentary.
Oh Steven, Your have touched my heart with your words. The first paragraph, so tenderly expressed with the frustration of what to say to those who have lost so much. I hadn’t known of Kathe Kollwitz work with woodcuts but this one truly portrays the emotion that all mothers who have lost a child must feel, how can that ever be comforted. May God bring them peace.
The quotes by Kurt Vonnegut are memorable, you have chosen so well. I haven’t read his book Slaughterhouse-Five, but will do so now. Thank you for this most beautiful and thoughtful post. Let us all hope and pray for peace in the world.
Happy New Year to you and your family, God Bless xx
Thank you Teri, Yes the frustration, and unbearableness, that goes beyond having an opinion, into the heart of the matter so well expressed by Vonnegut and Kollwitz. Thank you for your words of solace for the loss one must feel in such an experience. And a happy New Year to you as well and your family. All blessings to you from here.
Thanks, Steve, for helping to keep this tragedy in the forefront.
MK
The unimagineable, like Guernica, in front of our eyes.
Your work is beautiful – the imagery you produce is inimitable!
Thank you Mike. I feel ‘pale’ addressing this subject beside Vonnegut and Kollwitz who speak from (tragic) experience I haven’t had. And they are respectively great artists. I’ll take a step back in their presence. I appreciate your vote of confidence.
I really liked Kaethe Kollwitz over 50 years ago and nothing has changed to this day.
Thank you. I hear you. I’m with you there!
When a Kollwitz exhibition was shown in Beijing in the early 1980s, people lined up hundreds of meters in front of the ticket counter. A wonderful catalog was published, but with only 3000 copies. I was lucky enough to get two of them and one still has pride of place on my bookshelf to this day.
What a fantastic memory (and catalogue!) to carry and hold.