Caspar David Friedrich

Now available in a new format, this beautifully illustrated volume on the controversial nineteenth-century Romantic artist addresses his modern critics while deepening our appreciation for his singular genius. "A painting must stand as a painting, made by human hand," wrote Caspar David Friedrich, "not seek to disguise itself as Nature." One of his generation’s most popular painters, Friedrich imagined landscapes of powerful beauty and spirituality from within the confines of his studios. This breathtaking monograph, filled with glorious reproductions and details of his paintings, argues for Friedrich’s reputation as a sublime artist and interpreter of nature. In his thoughtful and well-researched commentary, author Johannes Grave explores Friedrich’s approach to landscape painting as well as his revolutionary thoughts about how these paintings should be received by their viewers. Looking closely at pieces such as Monk by the Sea, Abbey in the Oakwood, and the Tetschener Altar, Grave shows how Friedrich developed an innovative approach to landscape painting, one that communicated a new sense of space and time, and which draws the viewer into a unique aesthetic experience. Highly readable, insightful, and copiously illustrated, this compelling book sheds crucial light on Friedrich’s celebrated body of work.

A revelatory look at how the mature work of Caspar David Friedrich engaged with concurrent developments in natural science and philosophy Best known for his atmospheric landscapes featuring contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies and morning mists, Caspar David Friedrich (1774–1840) came of age alongside a German Romantic philosophical movement that saw nature as an organic and interconnected whole. The naturalists in his circle believed that observations about the animal, vegetable, and mineral kingdoms could lead to conclusions about human life. Many of Friedrich’s often-overlooked later paintings reflect his engagement with these philosophical ideas through a focus on isolated shrubs, trees, and rocks. Others revisit earlier compositions or iconographic motifs but subtly metamorphose the previously distinct human figures into the natural landscape. In this revelatory book, Nina Amstutz combines fresh visual analysis with broad interdisciplinary research to investigate the intersection of landscape painting, self-exploration, and the life sciences in Friedrich’s mature work. Drawing connections between the artist’s anthropomorphic landscape forms and contemporary discussions of biology, anatomy, morphology, death, and decomposition, Amstutz brings Friedrich’s work into the larger discourse surrounding art, nature, and life in the 19th century.

This book is about the paintings of Casper David Friedrich.

This book is about the paintings of Casper David Friedrich.

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), a major figure in the German Romantic movement, painted sublime works representing nature at its most melancholic and desolate. One of his most famous motifs was that of two intimate figures, seen from behind, gazing at the moon. Friedrich painted three versions of this theme, one of which -- Two Men Contemplating the Moon -- has recently been acquired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book discusses the Metropolitan's painting in conjunction with the other two versions and a number of related paintings and drawings by Friedrich and his Dresden friends. It also presents fascinating details about the moon itself -- including what was known about it in Friedrich's lifetime and its presence and symbolism in contemporary Romantic poetry.

"This book accompanies an international exhibition of paintings and drawings from the Oskar Reinhart Foundation in Winterthur, one of the finest collections of German, Austrian and Swiss art in Europe." "Oskar Reinhart (1885 - 1965) presented his extraordinary collection of Northern Romantic and Realist art to the town of Winterthur, establishing a museum with over five hundred paintings and several thousand drawings. The collection opened to the public in 1951 but still remains little known outside Switzerland - paintings from the Foundation are lent only on rare occasions and the Reinhart collection has never been shown abroad." "With introductory essays and detailed texts on each artist, this book surveys a rich pictorial tradition, ranging from the quiet introspection of the Romantic era and the gentle charm of Biedermeier to the robust art of Realist and Symbolist painters at the end of the century. Paintings by major artists (including Friedrich, Runge, Menzel, Bocklin, Liebermann and Hodler) are discussed alongside works by less familiar figures whose work deserves greater recognition."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

A introduction to the leading artist of the German Romantic movement of the 19th century.