April 04, 2003
Character Heads
I first read about the work of 18th century Austrian sculptor Franz Xavier Messerschmidt (1736-1783) in Thomas DaCosta Kaufmann’s book Court, Cloister and City: The Art and Culture of Central Europe 1450-1800. Frustratingly, while the text praised this artist’s singularly eccentric works, there were only a couple of small black-and-white photographs of them.
I was delighted then, when I found a web-page yesterday displaying dozens of Messerschmidt’s ‘Character Heads’ (Charakterköpfe), a type of work he produced almost exclusively in the wake of a psychiatric crisis of some kind (possibly paranoid schizophrenia) which overtook him in the 1770s.
It has been argued that these works are a ‘divergent contribution to the progressive study of physiognomy’, intended as illustrations of the passions in the manner of Le Brun.
Just as plausible, to my mind, would be that Messerschmidt became genuinely fascinated with representing extreme states-of-mind, such as those to which his illness, if that’s what it was, may have subjected him. It’s interesting that another famously mentally-ill artist, Richard Dadd, also composed an eccentric series of Sketches to Illustrate the Passions…
Très cool, mister! Wonderful busts. I had never heard of Messerschmidt before. As in the case of El Greco, one marvels that something that modern could be produced so long ago. That thinking is of course a fallacy, but one can't help it.
Posted by: Johan A on April 5, 2003 11:45 AMSplendid stuff. I recognise some of these faces from the Llew Coch in Cardigan.
Posted by: Nic Dafis on April 11, 2003 07:14 PMI too have been fascinated by this scupltor, after seeing his work in b&w photos in the 60s. The whole concept is strange and 'modern', particularly the 'bird-lip' heads ! It would be interesting to find out the process by which these sculptures were made.
The British artist, Richard Dadd, is a good comparison with Messerschmidt though their mental states probably were quite different.
Are you interested in Music ? Without calling into question their mental health I would deem such composers as Rued Langgaard and Kaikhosru Shapurji Sorabji as living in a similar realm to the above named artists ! It would have taken a determined 'otherworldliness' to persist , as they did, in their chosen path.
Do any of you have the exact web page with the images from this artist? I do not speak German and am having a problem finding any work from Franz Xavier Messerschmidt. There is a complete book out there, but is out of print.
Please forward he address if possible.
Thanks
Posted by: Michael on December 1, 2003 05:38 PM