Kant in Caspar David Friedrich's Frames

Author: Prager, Brad¹

Source: Art History, Volume 25, Number 1, February 2002 , pp. 68-86(19)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

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Abstract:

This essay concerns the applicability of the concepts of the sublime and the beautiful to Caspar David Friedrich's paintings. It takes the public debate around Friedrich's Cross in the Mountains (1807-08) as a starting point from which to reflect upon the relationship of this categorical distinction to the apparent contentiousness of his work. Using Kant's philosophical argument, the essay explores why Friedrich's formal interventions were not only aesthetic ones, but quite political as well. It then follows its terms into the twentieth century, considering its argument from the perspectives of Derrida and Lyotard, who have each reflected on the interrelationship of politics and sublimity in contemporary contexts.

Document Type: Original article

DOI: 10.1111/1467-8365.00303

Affiliations: 1: University of Missouri-Columbia

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