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R – BACK FIGURE
This already captured a crucial function of the Rückenfigur. It draws the gaze into the picture and at the same time obstructs it – it “spoils the view”*, as Brentano and von Arnim ironically, but aptly, put it. What the Rückenfigur sees – if, as is often the case with Friedrich, it is positioned in the central axis of the painting – remains hidden from the audience’s view in front of the canvas, thus appealing to the imagination. It acts as a representative and figure of identification for the viewers, but also creates a distance between them and the depicted landscape. At the same time, the Rückenfigur embodies the experience and enjoyment of viewing itself, the contemplative immersion in a landscape and infinite space.
An excerpt from Barbara Hess’ Caspar David Friedrich A–Z
*Quote from: Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim, »Verschiedene Empfindungen vor einer Seelandschaft von Friedrich, worauf ein Kapuziner«, in: Berliner Abendblätter, October 13, 1810, reprinted in: Werner Hofmann, Caspar David Friedrich. Naturwirklichkeit und Kunstwahrheit, Munich 2000, p. 285.
Image credit: Caspar David Friedrich, Woman at the Window, 1822, oil on canvas, 44 x 37 cm, Alte Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin
Veröffentlicht am:
17.01.2024
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