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Deeply unfashionable for much of the period since his death in 1843, apart from a brief flowering under Hitler, who liked his work for the "wrong" reasons, appreciating his representational style but failing to understand the irony and symbolism beneath it, Caspar David Friedrich has been "rediscovered" in Germany during the past thirty years. Until now, however, he has largely been neglected in the English-speaking World, except for the use of his pictures as on the covers of CD's of German Romantic music.(Paul Nash's famous wartime painting the "Totes Meer" or "dead sea" was, however, undoubtedly an homage to , or pastiche of, Friedrich's "Sea of Ice")
This book and the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery in London should remedy this.
The book is one to treasure. Its subject is a landscape painter who did not, rather than could not, "do faces", preferring his usually diminutive human subjects to be seen from rear-view gazing enigmatically into the far distance - a distance usually of mist, mountain, impenetrable forest or cold Baltic Sea. His principal theme was the alienation of his human subjects against a background of unconquerable nature. He was a revolutionary, not in his deceptively representational style but in what he chose his landscapes and seascapes to represent. His paintings resonate with the angst of the German Romantics. The book quotes von Kleist when describing Friedrich's Seascape with a monk: "There can be nothing sadder or more desolate than this place..." A diminutive human figure or that icon of the gloomier German Romantics, a crow or raven, set against on of his vast landscapes conveyed deep meaning in a few brushstrokes. To quote von Kleist again: "....yet this painter has undoubtedly broken an entirely new path in the field of art, and I am convinced that, with his spirit, a square mile of sand of Brandenburg could be represented with a barberry bush on which a lone crow might sit preening itself." This sumptuous book captures it all. An unreserved five stars!
This book very clearly encapsulates the major themes of his work, the changing trends and comments on his artistic development. The essays are easy to read and balance technical detail with personal insight into the man. The pictures of his work though are simply stunning - whole page reproductions in excellent colour make his work live. This is not one of those coffee table books -people will be too busy reading it and looking at that pictures for it to stay on a table. This is an excellent introduction to the man, to the paintings and to art that influenced generations and continues to do so. We all have our favourities - fortunately mine is on the cover and so I see it everyday.
A delight to read and enjoy
This book encapsules very fine reproductions of his works. And in that respect the book is a feast for the eyes and the soul.
Unfortunately the text is far from on par with its subject. The usual problem when a writer steeped in modern day 'rationalism' and materialism tries to write about a spiritually inspired artist. What we get is informative on a mundane level, while the post-modern mumblings are painfulley inadequate to capture the grandeur of Friedrich's transcendental art.
None the less this book is essential for all lovers of Friedrich and of spiritual art in generel.
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