Rückenfigur: Back figure in paintings (Olga E.)

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Rückenfigur ...
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Wanderer above the Sea of Fog is perhaps the most
iconic Rückenfigur in German Romantic painting
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Rückenfigur, the back-figure is a pictorial theme
with significant power. The figure is seen from
behind, generally absorbed in contemplation of
what is in front of him the viewer identifies
with him, entering more into the dimension of
painting. The Rückenfigur, apparently anodyne
but strategic and distinctive, reappeared in
painting from the Trecento onwards ...
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Rückenfigur ... back figure in paintings
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Italian Renaissance Giotto di Bondone Raffaello
Sanzio Giotto's Lamentation of Christ is
an early example of non-subject figures turned
from the viewer. Raphael developed the back
figure into a more and more dynamic and dramatic
figure by increasingly using gestures to express
emotions.
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Figures with their backs in the most expressive
and dramatically intense scene saddened
figures, an arid landscape with a rocky
mountain, a dry tree underlines the desolation by
the death of Christ Giotto di
Bondonne Lamentation, The Mourning of
Christ Lamentation sur le Christ mort Lamentación
sobre Cristo muerto 1304-1306 Cappella Scrovegni
(Arena Chapel), Padua
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The work depicts Pope Leo IV halting a fire in
847 with a benediction from a balcony in front
of the Old St. Peter's Basilica. the back
figures serve to draw the viewer in the drama of
the historical event In the foreground, people
are desperately trying to put out the fire
and a woman dressed in yellow, with her back to
us, implores them to turn to the only effective
source of help the Pope. Raffaello
Sanzio Fire in the Borgo L'Incendie du Bourg El
incendio del Borgo 1514 Musei Vaticani, Apostolic
Palace, Vatican City
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Dutch painting of the 17th century Gerard
Terborch Samuel van Hoogstraten Johannes
Vermeer In Dutch painting in the second
half of the 17th century, the back figure gained
importance due to the need for a new
representation of interiority and privacy in the
picture. The back figure was a reflexive
compromise between showing and concealing.
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a bedchamber ... a large dog with glaring
eyes, an older but still fashionable woman a
young man, his sword still hanging from his belt
and his hat resting in his lap gazing intently
at a girl in a magnificent satin gown. Is he
making an indecent proposal? With her back
turned, her reaction remains hidden from
us. (... And whats a dog doing in this bedroom
scene?) Gerard ter Borch II The Gallant
Conversation, known as Paternal Admonition
Conversation galante, connu comme
LAdmonestation paternelle Conversación galante,
anteriormente La amonestación paterna 1654 Rijksmu
seum, Amsterdam
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broom put away, slippers hurriedly thrown, open
book and in the background The Gallant
Conversation by Ter Borch, a painting with
gallant, if not moralising, overtones
... ... activities have been interrupted,
something must be going on out of sight
... perhaps a love affair Samuel van
Hoogstraten Intérieur hollandais, Les
Pantoufles Perspective of a dutch interior viewed
from a doorway, The slippers Un interior de casa
en Holanda, Las zapatillas 1658 Musée du Louvre,
Paris
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The Painter Who is this man sitting with his
back to us as he works on painting at the easel
in front of him? It is tempting to think that it
is Vermeer himself, but there is nothing to
suggest that it is. the back figure of the
painter is the reflexive center of an allegory,
with symbolic objects which also have to do with
the process or concealment the plaster mask on
the table, the book in the hand of the model, the
map on the wall or the curtain ... and a chair
invites the viewer to take a seat.
Johannes Vermeer The Art of
Painting L'Art de la peinture El arte de la
pintura 1666-1668 Kunsthistorisches Museum,
Vienna
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German Romanticism of the 19th century Caspar
David Friedrich Carl Gustav Carus Rückenfigu
r ... back-figure into vogue in the landscape
paintings of German Romantic artists of the early
nineteenth century, in particular those of Caspar
David Friedrich and his followers. The back
figure became the central theme of landscape
painting. Isolated in the landscape, maintaining
a dialogue with nature.
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A back figure, anonymous and as mysterious as the
view The wanderer and we look an almost
impenetrable sea of ??fog in the midst of a rocky
landscape that instant in which man is
overwhelmed by beauty, natural or spiritual.
Caspar David Friedrich Wanderer
above the Sea of Fog Le Voyageur contemplant une
mer de nuages ou Le Voyageur au-dessus de la mer
de nuages El caminante sobre el mar de nubes
1817 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg
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The sea, distant, enormous, unreachable, the
sailboats, perhaps depictions of the souls of men
departing for the Eternal, three anonymous
characters with their backs to the viewer, two
men and a woman, who could well be you and me
... Caspar David
Friedrich Chalk Cliffs on Rügen Falaises de craie
sur l'île de Rügen Acantilados blancos en
Rügen 1818-1819 Kunst Museum Winterthur Reinhart
am Stadtgarten, Winterthur
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the magnitude of the universe, the contrast of
light and shade a night sky, a calm sea dark
silhouettes of three figures with their backs
turned, moved by this wonder of nature, two women
and a man sit on the rock, gazing two sailing
ships pursuing their ghostly course across the
water Caspar David
Friedrich Moonrise by the Sea Lever de lune sur
la mer Luna saliendo sobre el mar 1822 Alte
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
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A man and a woman backs towards the viewer
... a mountain forest, a dramatically contorted,
uprooted oak and the reassuring celestial
light of the moon that permeates the atmosphere
with a solemn stillness Caspar
David Friedrich Man and Woman Contemplating the
Moon Homme et femme contemplant la Lune Hombre y
mujer contemplando la luna, 1824 Alte
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
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The pilgrim is walking through the night, along
the dark valley towards the morning star ...
Carl Gustav Carus Pilgrim
in a Rocky Valley Pèlerin dans une vallée
rocheuse Peregrino en un Valle Rocoso 1820 Alte
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
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A young woman dressed in black, facing away from
the viewer. She is here, on the terrace of a
castellated mansion high above rolling wooded
countryside, and a nostalgic, melancholy
atmosphere pervades this solitary dialogue with
nature. Carl Gustav
Carus Woman on the Balcony Femme au balcon Mujer
en el balcón 1824 Galerie Neue Meister,
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden
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"Rückenfigur" and nude art Diego
Velázquez Dominique Ingres Salvador Dalí In
the dialectic of showing and concealing,
subjective personality is concealed and intimacy
is made visible, as it were.
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Venus face is reflected in the mirror held up by
her son, Cupid, but her reflection is blurred
we cant see who she really is. Perhaps
Velázquez wanted to make sure that Venus the
personification of female beauty was not an
identifiable person we have to complete her
features with our imagination.
Diego Velázquez Rokeby Venus,
also known as The Toilet of Venus Vénus à son
miroir ou Vénus au miroir La Venus del
espejo 1644 National Gallery, London
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this subtle seduction of the invisible a
curtain as a metaphor for concealment
Jean-Auguste-Dominique
Ingres La Baigneuse dite Baigneuse de
Valpinçon The Valpinçon Bather La bañista de
Valpinçon 1808 Musée du Louvre, Paris
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The back ... Salvador Dalí's double nude Gala
sits aristocratically, nearly naked, save for a
beautifully handled white cloth Gala
contemplates the same image of her
back-to-the-viewer pose, only now it's formed by
architectural columns and other details
surrounding a tiny figure of a man. The
undeniably classic look to the work - it almost
looks like it could have been painted during the
Renaissance. Salvador Dalí My
Wife, Nude, Contemplating her own flesh becoming
Stairs, Three Vertebrae of a Column, Sky and
Architecture Ma femme, nue, regardant son propre
corps devenir escalier, trois vertèbres dune
colonne, ciel et architecture Mi esposa, desnuda,
contemplando su propio cuerpo convirtiéndose en
escalera, tres vértebras de una columna, cielo y
arquitectura 1945 Private collection
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"Rückenfigur" and the window as a pictorial motif
Caspar David Friedrich Gustave
Caillebotte The representation of the
contemplative back-figure to a vast natural
space, has evolved towards the image of the
figure in the window, a symbol of the longing
from the inner world to the outside, from the
inside to the landscape. Friedrich adapted his
outdoor setting to the interior with Woman at the
Window, a painting that probably influenced
Gustave Caillebotte
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the wide springtime sky, the delicate green of
the poplar trees, the River Elbe, the masts of
ships a window and a woman, seen from
behind In this painting, the viewer is invited
to look beyond the interior into the external
world, as the woman does, experiencing her sense
of yearning. Caspar David
Friedrich Woman at a Window Femme à la
Fenêtre Mujer en la ventana 1822 Alte
Nationalgalerie, Berlin
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a sun-drenched street scene, horse-drawn
carriages, a lone woman in fashionable attire is
about to cross the street a large open
window and a young man, wearing informal clothes,
with his back to the viewer, ... Rückenfigur
is reborn in Paris, in the French
impressionists. Although the composition has
precedents in German Romanticism, Caillebotte's
painting differs from its German
predecessors. The man is not looking at nature,
but contemplating an urban scene.
Gustave Caillebotte Jeune Homme à la
fenêtre Young Man at His Window Hombre joven en
la ventana 1876 J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
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Five years later ... Haussmann Paris, rich,
grandiose, spectacular, wide streets, wide
tree-lined sidewalks, aligned facades, long
balconies and sculpted decorations, a balcony, a
colourful awning, an ornate iron balustrade, a
trough of flowers and a Rückenfigur, an
elegant man with his back to the viewer ... a
sense of melancholy and loneliness, through the
lonely figure on the balcony Gustave
Caillebotte Man on a Balcony, Boulevard
Haussmann L'Homme au balcon, Boulevard
Haussmann Hombre en un balcón, Boulevard
Haussmann 1880 Private collection
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• Rückenfigur ... back figure in paintings
• Rückenfigur ... figure de dos dans la peinture
• Rückenfigur ... figura de espaldas en la pintura
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