John Lawrence, 'Richard Wollheim's "spectator in the picture" and the paintings of Edouard Manet'

Richard Wollheim in his 1987 Mellon Lectures book Painting as an Art develops an idea of there being a viewer or ‘spectator in the picture’, who, whilst invisible, is nevertheless internally present within the content of some paintings. Wollheim proposes that the function of such a spectator in the picture is that he allows the spectator of the picture distinctive access to the picture’s content. Wollheim believes that paintings by the German 18th century painter, Caspar David Friedrich, and the 19th century Parisian artist, Edouard Manet, frequently contain a spectator in the picture. Wollheim’s idea is complex. It contains several subsidiary and linked concepts, including ‘seeing-in’ and representation. 

    In my talk, I will briefly spell out and clarify Wollheim’s idea and consider critically the extent to which it provides useful insight into works by Edouard Manet.