Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
Louvre éditions , Neue Galerie , Officina libraria, c2010
- : Officina Libraria
- Other Title
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Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736-1783
Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736-1783 : from neoclassicism to expressionism
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Note
Exhibition catalogue
Catalogue of the exhibition held at Neue Galerie New York, Sept. 16, 2010-Jan. 10, 2011; Musée du Louvre, Paris, Jan. 26-Apr. 25, 2011
Biography: p. 199-202
Includes bibliographical references
Description and Table of Contents
Description
'Franz Xaver Messerschidt' is the first exhibition in the USA devoted to this major late 18th-century Austro-Bavarian sculptor. It will focus on the artist's so-called "character heads". Working in a neo-classical vein, Messerschmidt made his mark at first in Vienna, where he met success and had several imperial commissions. He presented the individual features of his models in a way "true to nature", in keeping with their age and without idealising them. Around 1770, there was a rupture in Messerschmidt's life. The artist was thought to have psychological problems, lost his position at the university, and returned to Wiesensteig, his native Bavarian town. Messerschmidt devoted himself to the creation of his "character heads", the body of work for which he would become famous. To produce these works, the artist would look into the mirror, pinching his body and making faces. He then rendered, with great precision, his distorted face. Messerschmidt is known to have produced 49 of these astonishing works before he died in 1783. Messerschmidt can be seen in relation to artists such as William Blake and Francisco Goya for his explorations of the dark side of the human soul.
His "character heads", in particular, are masterly works of sculpture, whose expressive intensity anticipates later developments in art.
Table of Contents
- Foreword - Renee Price and Henri Loyrette Essays - Maria Potzl-Malikova: Art and critical work on Messerschmidt
- Guilhem Scherf: Messerschmidt: a singular sculptor in his time
- Marie-Claude Lambotte: Messerschmidt today [title tbc]
- Antonia Bostrom: Critical Reception of Messerschmidt from the end of the 19th Century Catalogue - Maria Potzl-Malikova Appendices - Maria Potzl-Malikova: Chronology of Messerschmidt's life
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