Lithograph from aluminium plates, with scratch technique in the drawing plate, reddish brown on thin Bristol cardboard, Kn 58b
For this sheet, Käthe Kollwitz selected a motif from her academic nude studies. During classes, the models were instructed by the professor to adopt particular poses. A long pole was often used in these, sometimes difficult, poses so that the models could support themselves.
»Female Nude, Half-Figure, with Pole« is, however, not simply an academic exercise, but raises the motif into the rank of a work of art in its own right. Kollwitz took the academic standard pose and placed the scene in a particular pictorial frame for motivic purposes. The focal point is on the slightly bent back of the model.