Thursday, April 26, 2018

We Love You Back

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer Above the Mist, 1819.

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 René Magritte, The Great Century, 1954.


Rückenfigur
The tradition of depicting a figure from the back perhaps began with sculpture in the round.  In three-dimensional art, attention to the entire figure signals commitment to human representation.  Yet in two-dimensional art, depiction of the back of the figure invites the beholder to consider the background, a view both embodied and obscured by the presence of the rückenfigur.  

Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich frequently poses figures faced away from the beholder in contemplation of the sublime.  Surrealist painter René Magritte is another retroversion devotee, but for different reasons, saying, "everything we see hides another thing; we always want to see that which is hidden by what we see."  Above, Wanderer above the Mist and The Great Century are but two examples of these artists' rear-facing oeuvres. 

In photojournalism, it is not the photographer but the subject whose image is expressive.  Hillary Clinton is one of the most-photographed people in America, yet as a politician, her image is carefully crafted.  New York Times photographer Todd Heisler says, "Covering a campaign is like taking a photograph through a window. The challenge is to see beyond the reflected image — what the campaign is trying to project — and to capture what is really there."  The back of Clinton's hair was surprisingly oft-photographed during the 2016 election, by more than one news outlet.  The subjects in this body of work, like the paintings I have compared them to, transcend the candidate herself.  In the media glare, the crush of a crowd, or the hug of a voter, the Clinton's figure is assumed to be a known commodity, an iconographic self-representation.

In earlier artistic creations, the back of the figure suggested prioritization of the scene.  For Friedrich, the rückenfigur denoted man's place within the sublime; for Magritte, it symbolized the hidden signifier behind the signified.  Photojournalism, in absorbing the artistic practice of identifying the figure from behind, added an iconographic layer to the image: the scene contributes to the icon.



Todd Heisler, "Life in the Lights," New York Times, 4 October 2016. 

James Nachtwey, "Hillary Clinton," Time, Feb. 3, 2016.

Ruth Fremson, "Raleigh, NC," New York Times, 23 October 2016.


As former president and first lady, Barack and Michelle Obama are likewise icons.  After stepping down from eight years of service in the White House, the Obamas chose to represent themselves from the rear, embracing, facing the Washington Monument.  Online, the photo is emblazoned with the message, "We love you back."  With clever captioning, the visual message not only turns the focus away from the subjects, but also away from the setting, reflecting back to the beholder as a mirror.


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"We Love You Back," 2017.  https://barackobama.com/