Werner Hofmann

From 1960 to 1969, Werner Hofmann was Director of the Museum of the Twentieth Century in Vienna, and from 1970 to 1990 Director of the Kunsthalle in Hamburg. His numerous publications on the art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries include monographs on Gustav Klimt and Max Ernst.

"Splendid monograph, the first of major proportions in nearly thirty years .ever thoughtful, opening the door to Friedrich's world that much wider."Chicago Tribune Werner Hofmann vividly demonstrates Caspar David Friedrich's extraordinary ability to reproduce the natural world in faithful detail, while at the same time imbuing it with spiritual and religious significance. Caught between the near and the distant, the finite and the infinite, his human figures find a space in which to engage in the thoughtful contemplation of nature and the divine. Carefully placing the artist in a wider context, Hofmann examines contemporary judgments and influences on Friedrich's work. The beautiful illustrations include many of Friedrich's drawings and watercolors as well as over ninety of his works in oils. 193 illustrations, 150 in color.