Georgia O'keeffe and Kathe Kollwitz

            Kathe Kollwitz, a Germany printmaking artist and sculptors. She started to learn printmaking at the age of 14. In 1889, she married a doctor, Carl Cosette, who serviced in poor neighborhoods. Starting in 1898, she teaches art in Women's art school in Berlin and at that time she has become a socialist. Among all female artists, she is the most controversial one, there are different opinions towards her artwork out there, some people like but some don’t ---- or praise, or attack, or defend it. As what Ferdinand Avenarius said: "in the new century, a few years ago, when she had her first art exhibition, people talk about it all the time.” From then on, some said, “she is a great printmaker!” others said: “she is a promoter of social democracy.”  “She is a pessimistic painter of the plight”. And the other thought, “She is such a religious artist.” No matter how different people use their own opinion to understand and explain her artwork there are always one obvious thing: people didn't forget her! Who heard the name of her, suddenly think about her gloomy, unified, simple but aggressive art.

Georgia was an American artist who is listed as one of the greatest master of art in the 20th century. O'keeffe’s paintings has become a classic representative of American art in the 1920 s, and she is known for her abstract and realistic way to demonstrate artworks. Her theme is quite distinctive. Usually she paints micro change of flowers, rock texture, conch, animal bones and desolate interior landscape of United States. Her works often filled with uniform color with not much of a change, which form a rhythmical composition.

Not like any other artists, Georgia and Kathe both are really educated from the art aspect and had a strong art background since they were really young. Georgia was raised in Wisconsin and she studied under a local watercolor painter Sarah Manner (Sarah Mann). At college, she choose to go to Art institute of Chicago and two years later she went to the art students league in New York City. With the oil painting "Untitled" she won the art students league in William Mali, chase award.  

For Kathe, she started to learn painting at the age of 14, and in 1884 Berlin women’s art school accepted her and later years she studied in Munich. She began to teach art at Women's art school in 1898, Berlin. Meanwhile she traveled to Paris and Italy a lot and after returning to Germany in 1909 she worked as a comic magazine in Simplic issimus. She and her husband lived in a poor neighborhood, so they understand lower class people’s situation and from the start of her art career she created many paintings reflecting the sufferings of the lower people and exposing social illness. Therefore at the first time when she won the gold medal for her artwork, King William IV cancelled it. Her work is full of sadness, truthfully reflected the reality of the Germany downtrodden at the end of 19th century and the early 20th century.