Details — Click to read
Collagraph/Photolithograph/Chine Colle/ Handcoloring
on Handmade Paper
48”h x 48”w
Edition Various of 16 2007
Rosa Luxemberg b. 1871- Polish by birth, a German by
marriage and a Socialist and activist who was imprisoned
because of her opposition to the German government at
the outbreak of World War I. Following Germany’s defeat
and less than a year after she was released from prison,
she and Karl Liebknecht were arrested and murdered by
German troops in 1919. Karl Liebknecht was memorialized
in Kathe Kollwitz’ iconic woodcut Memorial for Karl Liebknecht.
“Thrice handicapped — a woman, a Pole, and a Jew — Luxemburg
was the most eloquent voice of the left wing of German Social
Democracy, the defender of Marxist purity against all comers,
and a constant advocate of radical action.” Unkown
Juan Sanchez came to the studio in St. Louis to make the
plates, and to proof the first round of images. He arrived
with a copy of the only photograph of Rosa after she was
pulled from the river following her assassination. The
gruesome image of her deteriorating skull became the
abstracted images deep in the background. The Star of
David with a photograph of Rosa, age nine, is surrounded
by images of a baby (Juan’s daughter Liora). Below are
two outstretched arms – Lifeless? In repose? Angelic?
All of the paper was handmade at Wildwood Press save the
BFK used for the images of the baby. The base paper is a
blue kozo paper dappled with water drops backed with black linen.
