Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736-1783: From Neoclassicism to Expressionism
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
At the height of his career, Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was considered one of the most accomplished sculptors in Vienna. Working in a neoclassical style, he created some of the finest sculptures of the eighteenth century. Today, however, the artist is best known for a very different body of work: the so-called “character heads.” Alternately grimacing, gaping, and leering, these arresting sculptures push the boundaries of expressive form. Mask-like and uncanny, they appear tinged with madness.
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736-1783: From Neoclassicism to Expressionism
Exhibition Begins
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
Taking inspiration from varied artistic traditions, Messerschmidt developed a figural style entirely his own. His work, with its emphasis on the subjectivity of emotional experience, anticipates the development of Expressionist art by more than a century. The artist left few clues as to the meaning of his work. Yet they have exerted a tremendous infl uence on the art of sculpture, and retain their powerful presence more than two centuries after they were created.
Exhibition Begins
Exhibition Begins II
Photographer: André Meier, 2010
This is the first museum show ever devoted to Messerschmidt in America, and it is presented in partnership with the Musée du Louvre, Paris. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Exhibition Begins II
First Gallery: Early Career
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was born in 1736 in the small town of Wiesensteig in southern Germany. He began his artistic training around the age of ten in the workshop of his uncle, Johann Baptist Straub, sculptor to the Bavarian court. In 1755, he enrolled as a student at the Academy of Fine Art in Vienna. His talent soon drew the attention of his teachers and of the director of the Academy, Martin von Meytens. In 1765, Messerschmidt traveled to Rome, where he enrolled in the Accademia del Nucco.
First Gallery: Early Career
First Gallery: Early Career II
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
This sojourn profoundly influenced his work. Upon his return to Vienna, he began to produce works in a highly original style. Stripping away the decorative flourishes and diagonal lines of the high Baroque, Messerschmidt focused solely on the faces of his sitters. He did not idealize their features, and his portraits seemed to reveal underlying timeless qualities.
First Gallery: Early Career II
First Gallery: Early Career III
Photographer: André Meier, 2010
No other artist in the city—arguably, in all of Europe—at that time was working in a similarly uncompromising fashion, and his sculpture gained him wide acclaim. By 1770, the artist was at the height of his career. He was awarded numerous important commissions and a prestigious position on the faculty at the Academy of Fine Art.
First Gallery: Early Career III
Second Gallery: "Character Heads"
Photographer: André Meier, 2010
In the early 1770s, Messerschmidt’s fortunes suffered an abrupt reversal. He began to have difficulty securing commissions and his support at the Academy was weakened following the death of his protector and advocate, Martin van Meytens. His colleagues complained of his erratic behavior, alleging that his “reason occasionally seemed subject to madness.” The artist grew increasingly isolated and struggled to support himself.
Second Gallery: "Character Heads"
Second Gallery: "Character Heads" II
Photographer: André Meier, 2010
In December 1774, Messerschmidt’s contract was terminated at the Academy. With no means of financial support, he was forced to sell his belongings and leave Vienna. He first moved to his native town of Wiesensteig in Bavaria and then to Munich before settling in Pressburg (today, Bratislava) in 1777. It was at this time that Messerschmidt began work on the series that would come to be known after his death as the “character heads.”
Second Gallery: "Character Heads" II
Second Gallery: "Character Heads" III
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
To produce the works, Messerschmidt would pinch his abdomen and thighs, contorting his face into grimaces. He then gazed into a mirror and rendered, with tremendous precision, his distorted expressions. The creation of these heads would preoccupy the artist for the rest of his life.
Second Gallery: "Character Heads" III
Third Gallery: Later Years
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
In the last few years of his life, Messerschmidt’s reputation once again grew. Word of the strange heads he was producing drew interest not only among his neighbors, but in the circles of Enlightenment intellectuals, who clamored for an audience with the sculptor. Among them was the writer Friedrich Nicolai, who traveled from Berlin to Pressburg to meet Messerschmidt in June of 1781.
Third Gallery: Later Years
Third Gallery: Later Years II
Photographer: Hulya Kolabas, 2010
In a report he produced documenting his meeting with the artist, Nicolai wrote that Messerschmidt felt himself to be persecuted by evil spirits. The only way to defend against their attacks, he said, was to invoke the magic power of proportions. Forcing his features into various violent expressions helped him harness this power.
Third Gallery: Later Years II
Third Gallery: Later Years III
Photographer: André Meier, 2010
Messerschmidt died suddenly of pneumonia in 1783 at the age of 47. The entirety of his work, said to have been more than 60 heads in total, passed into the hands of his brother. Ten years later, 49 of the heads were exhibited for the first time in Vienna, displayed at the Bürgerspital (Communal Hospital). The works stayed together as a collection until 1889, when they were sold to various private collections.
Third Gallery: Later Years III
