Where to See Outbreak: British Museum, London

German artist Käthe Kollwitz created this powerful etching in 1903 as part of her Peasants' War series. The central figure, known as Black Anna, faces away from the viewer, arms raised, propelling a surge of rebels forward. Her body tilts with the force of radical momentum.

The series depicts the German peasant uprising of 1522-25. Kollwitz chose to show the woman from behind, universalizing her as a symbol of righteous anger. This print won the Villa Romana Prize, funding a year's stay in Florence. It exemplifies Expressionist printmaking at its most emotionally powerful.

The print shows "Black Anna" leading peasants into revolt during the German Peasants' War (1522-25). Kollwitz positioned her facing away, making her a universal symbol of uprising.

This is an etching with drypoint and aquatint, not a woodcut. Kollwitz created the entire Peasants' War series using various intaglio printmaking techniques.

"Outbreak" won the Villa Romana Prize, which provided Kollwitz a year's stay in Florence in 1907. It remains her most celebrated print.

Outbreak

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More by Käthe Kollwitz

Revolt (By the Gates of a Park)

The End

Self-Portrait, Hand at the Forehead

The Prisoners

Also at British Museum

Sutton Hoo Helmet

Study of the Madonna and Child with a Cat

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Mausoleum at Halicarnassus Sculptures

Woman with Dead Child

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Frauenkirche

Couple

Street, Berlin

Lady in a Green Jacket

Anxiety

Madonna

The Yellow Cow

The Sick Child

Winding Brook

Forest with Sunlit Clearing in the Background

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