Bulletin du Musée National de Varsovie (3.1962)

Stanisław Stopczyk

AN EARLY DRAWING OF KAETHE KOLLWITZ
AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF WARSAW

In the collections of drawings of tlie National Museum of Warsaw there is one drawing by
Kaethe Kollwitz called "A scenę in the inn". It represents five persons in a big room furnished
witli several tables. In the fore-ground there are two men. The one standing in the middle,
with his left hand bent at the elbow, in an aggressive gesture turns to the man at the table who
is about to get up leaning with his left hand on the table and the right one on the back of the
chair, as if to parry the expected attack. Near the wali at the same table another stout man
is sitting with his arms folded, an impassive and apathetic observer of what is going on. In
the background still another man seems to be dozing as he leans over the table. At the door
a woman in a white apron is standing; she is only drawn in outline. In the right hand corner,
in the fore-ground there is part of another table and bench, with a man's hat round, narrow-
brimmed on it. The light comes from two smali windows on the left and from a lamp hanging
from the ceiling, but it does not light the room well (fig. 1).

This drawing (375x540 mm, Inv. No. XIX Nm. 1481) is on white paper in charcoal and
the main contours are emphasized with black chalk. On the right at the bottom there is the
signature and the date: Kathe Schmidt-Kollwitz/Konigsberg 88. Filigran D C in a cartouche,
and PL BAS.

1. Kaethe Kollwitz, A scenę in the inn, 1888, charcoal and black. chalk 375 X 540, National
Museum of "Warsaw, Inv. No. XIX Nm. 1481

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