ARTISTS IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF CASPAR DAVID FRIEDRICH ON RUEGEN

Starting with the paintings of Caspar David Friedrich, who visited the Island of Rügen several times, the exhibition spans from him to today's artists. A particular highlight is a painting by Franz Pflugradt (1861-1946), Friedrich's great-grandson. But the other artists have nothing to hide either. High-quality paintings by the Stralsund painter Antonie Biel (1830-1880), the Corinth pupil Werner Sieloff (1898-1974), the painter Heinrich Herrmann (1903-1963), who worked in Juliusruh for many years, as well as artists still active on the Island of Rügen such as Hans-Dieter Bartel (b. 1937), Gudrun Arnold (born 1940), Egon Arnold (born 1954), Matthias Gerlach (born 1955), Hanne Petrick (born 1948) are exhibited.

Over 2700 artists are now known to have come to the Island of Rügen to draw and paint since 1750. A total of 1400 paintings with a baroque-classical landscape conception alone are known(Thaßler, Oliver: Rügen als Künstlerinsel; in: RUGIA Rügenjahrbuch 2018; Putbus, 2018, p. 7.) Thus, neither an exhibition nor a book can provide an overview that does them all halfway justice.

Caspar David Friedrich is regarded as THE painter of the Romantic period, with "The Chalk Cliffs" etched into the collective memory. Painted in 1818/1819, "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen" was not attributed to Caspar David Friedrich until the beginning of the 20th century by art historian Guido Joseph Kern (1878-1953). As a matter of principle, the artist did not sign his works (Illies, Florian: Zauber der Stille. Caspar David Friedrich's Journey through Time, Frankfurt a. M., 2023, p. 100). It is still unclear where the painting was located between around 1820 and the end of the 19th century. (Ibid., p. 187.) Consequently, it could not have had any influence on artists at that time. Nowadays, it is almost inconceivable that the artist was virtually forgotten for decades. Other art movements seemed more interesting to the public. The rejection of the Romantics was triggered by the most important opinion leader of his time, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), who spoke of an "erroneous path" that should not be followed. (Ibid., p. 151.)

Much has been written and interpreted about Friedrich's painting "Chalk Cliffs on Rügen". It is usually seen as a picture of his honeymoon with his young wife and brother. The artist himself is not known to have commented on it, so that much must be described as speculative. There are many unsolved mysteries concerning this painting. One of these is another study by Friedrich with almost the same view without figures. The years 1815 or 1826 are given as the date. (von Brauchitsch, Boris: Caspar David Friedrich, Berlin, 2023, p. 166 ff.) The branching of the trees jutting into the picture from the left and right is smaller than in the famous chalk cliff painting. Either, according to one interpretation, they are even smaller (in which case 1815 would be conceivable) or they are stunted (in which case 1826 would be more likely). An engraving by Friedrich Rossmaesler (around 1775-1858; also Roßmaesler and Rosmäsler as well as Roßmäßler) in a book from 1837 shows magnificently grown trees, so that the first variant is more realistic. (Gill, Hartmut: Künstlerinnen und Künstler auf den Spuren Caspar David Friedrichs auf Rügen, Rostock, 2024, p. 13.) This puzzle will most likely be solved in our exhibition on the basis of pictorial material.

The exhibition features several paintings with back views in the tradition of Caspar David Friedrich. Friedrich was not the first to introduce the back figure into art. But he was the first to make it a central theme in landscape painting. The back figure becomes the central element that determines the pictorial form and symbolic content of his paintings. The art historian von Brauchitsch aptly writes: "The figure that turns its back to the viewer is constitutive of Caspar David Friedrich's work. It is a figure that turns away from us or that has not (yet) noticed us. It plays a central role in his best-known paintings, and there is no doubt that it is what made these paintings icons. [...] In Caspar David Friedrich's work, on the other hand, the back figures are usually passive, they are viewers like us. They are us." (von Brauchitsch, Boris: Caspar David Friedrich, Berlin, 2023, p. 153.)

Ultimately, back figures can already be found in works of art from antiquity. The significance of this type of depiction changed over the centuries according to the respective artistic epoch. Until the Romantic period, the back view had a more narrative and compositional character. From the second half of the 19th century onwards, the nude from the back was often placed at the center of the picture without correspondence and solely for aesthetic effect. (Gill, Hartmut: Künstlerinnen und Künstler auf den Spuren Caspar David Friedrichs auf Rügen, Rostock, 2024).

No artist could or can escape Friedrich's fascination and influence. But very few philosophize with their paintings, as Friedrich did. In the first half of the 19th century, it was otherwise mainly a matter of depicting the special nature with its chalk cliffs and important buildings. In the second half, there was an increase in pictures that captured moods. Light and shadow, color and structures still dominate the depiction of Rügen motifs today. An incredible amount has been written about art. Much is interpreted into pictures. The spirit of the times plays a major role in the assessment of artists. The personalities are often not seen as people in a certain time, but are either artificially exaggerated or condemned. Caspar David Friedrich was annoyed by the overly educated talk about art. The head should never be more important than the heart: "Do you want to know what beauty is? Ask the aesthetes, it may be useful to you at the tea table, but not in front of the easel, there you must feel what is beautiful." (Illies, Florian: Zauber der Stille. Caspar David Friedrich's journey through the ages, Frankfurt am Main, 2023, p. 234).