Mother (Mutter)

1915–1918

A soldier on the Eastern Front

From 1915 to 1918 he serves as a soldier on the Eastern Front, in Russia and Lithuania; the experience hardly shows in his art, but while serving in Lithuania he turns increasingly to religious subjects.

1918

Marries Emy Frisch

In 1918 he marries Emy Frisch.

December 1918

Nine woodcuts on New Testament subjects

In December 1918 the Kurt Wolff Verlag in Munich publishes “Schmidt-Rottluff: 9 Holzschnitte”, a series of nine woodcuts based mainly on New Testament subjects — “Christ”, “Christ and Judas”, “Road to Emmaus”, “The Miraculous Draught of Fishes”. Simplified forms, angular cutting and strong contrasts of black and white address themes of faith, love, trust and betrayal.

1918–1921

The Workers' Council for Art and the journal “Die Aktion”

From 1918 to 1921 he belongs to the Arbeitsrat für Kunst (Workers' Council for Art), an anti-academic, socialist movement of German artists during the German Revolution of 1918–19, and contributes to the journal “Die Aktion”.

1918–1943

Berlin and annual trips to the Baltic

From 1918 to 1943 he lives in Berlin and travels to the Baltic Sea every year, working a great deal there.