The Romantic Vision of Caspar David Friedrich: Paintings and Drawings from the USSR

by Robert Rosenblum, Boris I. Asvarishch, Sabine Rewald (Editor)

Book by Friedrich, Caspar David

Genres: Art

110 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1990

About the author

Robert Rosenblum (24 July 1927 - 6 December 2006) was a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and a professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He is the author of multiple volumes on modern and contemporary art, including The Paintings of August Strindberg and Paintings in the Musee d'Orsay. Rosenblum is the recipient of a Frank Jewett Mather Award for Distinction in Art Criticism.

Reviews

[R.G. Ziemer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exhibition catalog for a show of Caspar David Friedrich's work, on loan from the Hermitage Museum in Russia, which traveled to the Art Institute of Chicago and the Metropolitan Museum in NYC among others, in 1990 or so.
Friedrich's work is not well-known, one reason being the fact that so many of his paintings belong to the Russians. Apparently the future Tsar Nicholas I was a fan; he and his wife, the German Princess Alexandra, bought a lot of his work and displayed pieces in their various palaces, including the Peterhof. I caught a glimpse of something of his, while vacationing, in the Hermitage, but on a tour didn't have time to explore for more.
Besides enjoying the moody romantic scenes he painted, I take an interest in the German Friedrich because he was from Pomerania, my Ziemer family's homeland. (Although he was a shop-keeper's son from Greifswald in Ost-pommern--not exactly relatable to my rural Hinterpommern farmworker ancestors.) In my one trip to Germany my wife and visited Greifswald, though, and Stralsund and the Isle of Ruegen, which Friedrich sketched and painted often.
I'd like to go back and spend some time in other places he depicted in his art -- Dresden, where he lived most of his life, and the mountains of Northern Bohemia, another favorite subject.

[Holly Lindquist · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a nicely-done intro to Friedrich's works from the Russian collections, including some sepia drawings and more obscure paintings. Lots of classic C. D. Friedrich vistas, things like cathedral spires in fog, mist-wreathed mountains, lonely graves, mysterious and melancholic figures, the rock towers in Bohemian Switzerland, and ruined churches. Lovely, romantic stuff. The text provides interesting details on his life and touches lightly on some of the recurring symbols and themes in his art. The only drawback is that some of paintings are not in full color, but as that would most likely result in a more expensive book, it's not a large complaint.

[Frank McAdam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written to accompany an exhibit of the artist's paintings from Russia's Hermitage collection. A good introduction to Friedrich's work with excellent (though smaller format) reproductions and intelligently written text dealing with the recognition and patronage the painter received from aristocratic Russian collectors. The book fails, however, to put Friedrich in the context of the early 19th century Romantic movement.