There is no more famous feature of Caspar David Friedrich's paintings than his Rückenfiguren, the many figures seen from the rear. But Rückenfiguren also play a significant role in the art of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French painters such as Chardin, Géricault, Courbet, and Caillebotte. Is the meaning of such figures the same or different in the two bodies of work? Also: the French critic Edmond Duranty expressed boundless admiration for Adolph Menzel's "extreme realism" in two posthumous articles of 1880. On the basis of what deep assumptions about the proper aims of painting was Duranty able to appreciate Menzel so profoundly? Finally, there is the endlessly fascinating question of the place of antitheatricality in Heinrich von Kleist's essay on the marionnette theater.

Public lecture within the context of the conference "Synergies".

17.05.2013  |  6.30 - 8:00 p.m.
Max Liebermann Haus, Pariser Platz 7, 10117 Berlin