Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies (JSSHRS) · Research article · Open access
Rückenfigur and the Western Gaze: An Art Historical Study of the Figure Seen from Behind
Zhang Xinyan, Mohd Zahuri bin Khairani
25 December 2025 · Vol. 1, Issue 6, pp. 278-282
DOI: 10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08
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What is this article about?
The motif of the Rückenfigur—a figure shown from behind, facing into the pictorial space—has become almost synonymous with Caspar David Friedrich and German Romantic landscape painting. Yet as a compositional device and as a visual problem, the Rückenfigur has a deeper, more complex genealogy within Western art.
Article at a glance
- Published
- 25 December 2025
- Volume / issue / pages
- Vol. 1, Issue 6, pp. 278-282
- ISSN
- 3051-3561 (online) · 3051-3553 (print)
- Licence
- CC BY 4.0 — free to read and reuse with attribution
- Peer review
- Double-blind, at least two independent reviewers
- Publisher
- EP Journals Group
Abstract
The motif of the Rückenfigur—a figure shown from behind, facing into the pictorial space—has become almost synonymous with Caspar David Friedrich and German Romantic landscape painting. Yet as a compositional device and as a visual problem, the Rückenfigur has a deeper, more complex genealogy within Western art. From early experiments in Giotto’s frescoes to the domestic interiors of Vermeer and the erotic nudes of Velázquez and Ingres, painters repeatedly turned figures away from the viewer to organise space, withhold narrative information, and complicate the act of looking. In the nineteenth century, Friedrich’s landscapes codified the Rückenfigur as a privileged site for negotiating the sublime, the relation between subject and nature, and the temporality of viewing. Subsequent artists—Gustave Caillebotte, Vilhelm Hammershøi, Andrew Wyeth, Edward Hopper and others—reworked this motif in urban, domestic, and psychologically charged contexts, shifting its meaning from Romantic immersion in nature toward alienation, introspection, and modern subjectivity. This article traces the Rückenfigur as a Western art-historical phenomenon, moving from early antecedents to Romantic codification and modern transformations. Alongside close readings of selected paintings, it draws on theories of spectatorship and embodiment to argue that the Rückenfigur functions as a privileged device for staging the spectator’s position and for exploring the tension between identification and distance. Finally, the essay briefly considers the survival of this motif in photography, film, and contemporary art, suggesting that the figure seen from behind remains a powerful means of thinking about seeing, subjectivity, and the limits of representation.
Keywords: Rückenfigur, Caspar David Friedrich, Romantic sublime, Spectatorship, Embodiment, Modern subjectivity, Western painting
Cite this article
Zhang Xinyan, & Mohd Zahuri bin Khairani (2025). Rückenfigur and the Western Gaze: An Art Historical Study of the Figure Seen from Behind. Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, 1(6), 278-282. https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08
@article{Zhang2025,
title = {Rückenfigur and the Western Gaze: An Art Historical Study of the Figure Seen from Behind},
author = {Zhang Xinyan and Mohd Zahuri bin Khairani},
journal = {Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies},
year = {2025},
volume = {1},
number = {6},
pages = {278-282},
doi = {10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08},
url = {https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08}
}Questions about this article
Who wrote this article?
Zhang Xinyan, Mohd Zahuri bin Khairani.
Where and when was it published?
In Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, Volume 1, Issue 6, pages 278-282, published by EP Journals Group on 25 December 2025.
Is this article free to read?
Yes. It is open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 (CC BY 4.0) licence, so anyone can read, share and reuse it with attribution.
What is the DOI of this article?
10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08 (https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08).
How do I cite this article?
APA: Zhang Xinyan, & Mohd Zahuri bin Khairani (2025). Rückenfigur and the Western Gaze: An Art Historical Study of the Figure Seen from Behind. Journal of Social Science and Human Research Studies, 1(6), 278-282. https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V1E6/2025-08
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