Rückenfigur...

"Literally meaning "back figure", the term rückenfigur is usually associated with German romantic painters, such as Caspar David Friedrich, to describe a viewpoint that includes another person seen from behind, viewing a scene spread out before the viewer. (The key element to understand Friedrich's ideas and the relevance of his work is the link between landscape and religion. Most of his best-known paintings are expressions of a religious mysticism. His landscapes seek not just blissful enjoyment of a beautiful view, as in the Classic conception, but an instant of sublimity, a reunion with the spiritual self through the lonely contemplation of the overwhelming nature).

Over the years this particular technique has found its way quite substantially into the heart of both photography and cinema, but strangely receives little acknowledgment in either. While rückenfigur has its own classical definitions, this group is open to examine the mystery that rückenfigur conveys... so, many interpretations of this visual style are welcome"...






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