THE ROMANTIC VISION OF CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH

The German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) transformed his native landscape into hauntingly evocative imagery. This illustrated volume catalogs the first exhibition in the USA to be devoted to his works. Friedrich is considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his allegorical landscapes, which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. His primary interest was the contemplation of nature, and his often symbolic and anti-classical work seeks to convey a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings characteristically set a human presence in diminished perspective amid expansive landscapes, reducing the figures to a scale that, according to the art historian Christopher John Murray, directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension". Includes bibliographical references (pages 101-107), and  28 color and 45 b&w plates.