Description

No More War is written and directed by Mary Moynihan and performed by Michelle Costello as Käthe Kollwitz.
This performance art film is inspired by a creative response to the life and work of German artist Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) who spoke out against war and tyranny through her work and  actions. The film  is a creative re-imagining of the achingly powerful life story of the artist.

Käthe Kollwitz (1867-1945) née Schmidt was born in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad, Russia) on 8 July in 1867, Käthe Kollwitz established herself in an art world dominated by men by developing an aesthetic vision centered on women and the working class. Her representations of women, including her frequent self-portraits, effectively communicated her subjects’ predicaments during a period when women were still negotiating ways to represent themselves in the arts.
Käthe worked with paintings, printmaking (including etching, lithography and woodcuts) and sculpture. Her most famous art cycles, including The Weavers and The Peasant War, depict the effects of poverty, hunger and war on the working class.   Käthe lost her youngest son Peter in WWI and her grandson in WWII. While she never got over the death of her son, after his death, she became a pacifist and went on to use her art to speak out against war. Her ‘no more war’ art posters became powerful symbols of peace that are used to this day.
© Mary Moynihan 2020