What was Franz Xaver Messerschmidt famous for?
character heads
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, an eighteenth-century German sculptor active in Austria, is best known for his series of dramatic “character heads.” The metal and stone busts are often disturbing in their extreme expressions.
How did Franz Xaver Messerschmidt create his work?
Messerschmidt devised a series of pinches he administered to his right lower rib. Observing the resulting facial expressions in a mirror, Messerschmidt then set about recording them in marble and bronze. One of Messerschmidt’s most famous heads (The Beaked[1]) was apparently inspired by one of these encounters.
What techniques did Franz Xaver Messerschmidt use?
In his isolation, Messerschmidt began sculpting a series of works known after his death as “character heads.” “In Messerschmidt’s view,” Pötzl-Malikova explains, “proportions controlled the entire world and also influenced one another.” By distorting the proportions of his own face, which he studied in a mirror as he …
Who is Franz Xaver Messerschmidt?
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (February 6, 1736 – August 19, 1783) was a German-Austrian sculptor most famous for his “character heads”, a collection of busts with faces contorted in extreme sexual expressions . Born February 6th 1736 in the southwestern town of Wiesensteig, located in the region of the Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
Where did Johannes Messerschmidt live?
Born February 6th 1736 in the southwestern town of Wiesensteig, located in the region of the Swabian Jura Germany. Messerschmidt grew up in the Munich home of his uncle, the sculptor Johann Baptist Straub, who became his first master. He spent two years in Graz, in the workshop of his other maternal uncle, the sculptor Philipp Jakob Straub.
What did Count Kaunitz say about Messerschmidt?
In a letter to the Empress, Count Kaunitz praised Messerschmidt’s abilities, but suggested that the nature of his illness (referred to as a “confusion in the head”) would make such an appointment detrimental to the institution.
How did Messerschmidt make his grimaces?
Messerschmidt devised a series of pinches he administered to his right lower rib. Observing the resulting facial expressions in a mirror, Messerschmidt then set about recording them in marble and bronze. His intention, he told Nicolai, was to represent the 64 “canonical grimaces” of the human face using himself as a template.