Franz Messerschmidt - part 3

Franz Messerschmidt, the leading sculptor at the court in Vienna in the 1760s, was forced, for personal and professional reasons, to leave for the provinces and by 1777 had settled in Pressburg (today Bratislava). There he concentrated on a private series of heads, completing more than sixty in his preferred medium of tin alloy or in alabaster.

While acknowledging the artistic tradition of exploring facial expressions and emotions, these Kopfstücke, or head pieces, as he called them, were highly original for their combination of realism and abstraction. Visitors to his studio observed the artist studying himself in a mirror. Some of the heads are straightforward self-portraits, smiling or frowning; others are satirical or comic, the sitter reacting to a strong odour or yawning widely. A few, called “refusers” by an early critic for the way they deny contact with their surroundings, are deeply introspective.

The meaning of the series has been long debated. The titles were conferred after the sculptor’s death, when forty-nine works were exhibited in 1793. Messerschmidt was aware of contemporary medical theories, such as Johann Caspar Lavater’s 1775

study of physiognomy’s relation to human character, and he certainly knew his Viennese neighbour the physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who believed that outward senses connect to inner emotions and developed related therapies to treat his patients. However one assesses it, the series of is exceptional in eighteenth-century sculpture, stylistically advancing beyond Neoclassicism to a reductive

simplicity, forecasting modern minimalism, and psychologically rendering serial states of mind in a project that was novel for the pre-Freudian world.

This is part 3 of 3-part series on the works of Franz Messerschmidt:

1777-83 Quiet, peaceful sleep
tin 43 x 22.5 x 24 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

1780-83 Capuchin
lead-tin cast
Palais Mirbach, Galerie de la Ville, Bratislava

c1780-83 Alabaster Medallion reliefs:

Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen

Emperor Joseph II as Hungarian King
9.5 cm diameter
Museum of Fine Arts Budapest

Emperor Joseph II as Hungarian King

Joseph Kiss

Self-portrait

Self-portrait

Self-portrait
14.5 cm diameter
Staatliche Museum, Berlin

Self-portrait with wig
9.5 cm diameter
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Self-portrait
8 cm diameter
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Unknown female

1782 Márton György Kovachich
 tin cast 44 cm high
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

n.d. A grievously wounded man
(details not found)

n.d. Emotions 2
(details not found)

n.d. Emotions 3
(details not found)

n.d. Emotions 4
(details not found)

n.d. Emotions 10
(details not found)

n.d. A young man and young woman
(attributed to Messerschmidt)
lead, on carved ebonised wood socles 

n.d. Seated Male Nude Holding a Staff
black and white chalk on blue paper 41.8 x 26.7 cm
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

n.d. Sketches of Character Heads
Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna, Austria

n.d.  Anger 1
(details not found)

n.d.  Anger 2

Franz Messerschmidt - part 2

Franz Messerschmidt, the leading sculptor at the court in Vienna in the 1760s, was forced, for personal and professional reasons, to leave for the provinces and by 1777 had settled in Pressburg (today Bratislava). There he concentrated on a private series of heads, completing more than sixty in his preferred medium of tin alloy or in alabaster.

While acknowledging the artistic tradition of exploring facial expressions and emotions, these Kopfstücke, or head pieces, as he called them, were highly original for their combination of realism and abstraction. Visitors to his studio observed the artist studying himself in a mirror. Some of the heads are straightforward self-portraits, smiling or frowning; others are satirical or comic, the sitter reacting to a strong odour or yawning widely. A few, called “refusers” by an early critic for the way they deny contact with their surroundings, are deeply introspective.

The meaning of the series has been long debated. The titles were conferred after the sculptor’s death, when forty-nine works were exhibited in 1793. Messerschmidt was aware of contemporary medical theories, such as Johann Caspar Lavater’s 1775

study of physiognomy’s relation to human character, and he certainly knew his Viennese neighbour the physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who believed that outward senses connect to inner emotions and developed related therapies to treat his patients. However one assesses it, the series of is exceptional in eighteenth-century sculpture, stylistically advancing beyond Neoclassicism to a reductive

simplicity, forecasting modern minimalism, and psychologically rendering serial states of mind in a project that was novel for the pre-Freudian world.

This is part 2 of 3-part series on the works of Franz Messerschmidt:

1771-81 The Yawner
tin cast 42 x 21.5 x 26 cm

1771-83 A strong man
tin-lead cast 44.5 x 26.7 x 22.9 cm

1771-83 Character Head
tin-lead-inorganic material (size not given)
Louvre Museum, Paris

1771-83 Character Head

1771-83 Character Head

This Character Head, exhibited in Vienna in 1793 belonged in Vienna towards the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, to the anatomist Emil Zuckerkandl, then until 1939, to the writer Richard Beer-Hofmann (1866-1945). Seized by the Nazis and transferred to the Vienna Historical Museum in 1939 (Inv. 59895); returned in 2003 to the collector's heirs. Sotheby's New York sale, January 27, 2005, no. 12. Acquired thanks to the assistance of the Friends of the Louvre and the Heritage Fund.

1771-83 Childish Weeping
tin-lead alloy 45 x 22 x 25 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

1771-83 Just rescued from drowning
 alabaster 20 x 20 x 25.5 cm
Private collection, Belgium

1771-83 Just rescued from drowning

1771-83 The Constipated One
lead 30.5 x 21 x 21 cm
Germanisches Nationalmuseum, Nürnberg

1771-83 The Constipated One

1771-83 The ill-humoured man
lead-tin cast 39 cm high
Private Collection

1771-83 The Vexed Man
alabaster 39.4 x 27.3 x 26 cm
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles

1771-83 The Vexed Man

1771-83 The Vexed Man

The Vexed Man bust portrays a middle-aged man with a sour expression, which seems to fall somewhere between a grimace and a scowl. The most telling aspect may be the furrowed brow above squinting eyes and a scrunched nose. But natural cracks in the bust's alabaster surface seem to echo the topography of his skin, both softened by age yet hardened by the extreme expression. The man's receding hairline, wrinkles, and sagging jawline contrast with tensed cheek and neck muscles. Although the character seems to express irritation and annoyance, it is not certain whether Messerschmidt intended that interpretation, because he did not give the bust a title.

1771-83 The Yawner
tin 42 x 21.5 x 26 cm
photo © Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

1771-83 The Yawner

1773-74 Bust of Prince Joseph Wenzel von Liechtenstein
(1696-1772)
tin alloy, vestiges of fire silvering; original black marble base
37.5 x 27  x 23 cm (bust without base)
 Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna, Austria

1775-77 The "religion" of Theresia Straub's tomb
white marble
Bavarian National Museum, Munich, Germany

1775-80 A Hypochondriac
lead 42.6 x 25 x 23 cm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

after 1777 Bearded old man
alabaster 42 cm high
Liebhaus sculpture collection, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

after 1777 Bearded old man

1777-81 Self-Portrait laughing
tin cast (size not given)

1777-83 A Mischievous Wag
gysum alabaster 42 cm high
© Belvedere, Vienna

1777-83 A Mischievous Wag

1777-83 An arch villain
 tin-lead casting 39 x 26 x 25 cm

1777-83 An arch villain

1777-83 An arch villain

Franz Messerschmidt - part 1

Self Portrait
Bode-Museum, Berlin, Germany

Franz Messerschmidt, the leading sculptor at the court in Vienna in the 1760s, was forced, for personal and professional reasons, to leave for the provinces and by 1777 had settled in Pressburg (today Bratislava). There he concentrated on a private series of heads, completing more than sixty in his preferred medium of tin alloy or in alabaster.

While acknowledging the artistic tradition of exploring facial expressions and emotions, these Kopfstücke, or head pieces, as he called them, were highly original for their combination of realism and abstraction. Visitors to his studio observed the artist studying himself in a mirror. Some of the heads are straightforward self-portraits, smiling or frowning; others are satirical or comic, the sitter reacting to a strong odour or yawning widely. A few, called “refusers” by an early critic for the way they deny contact with their surroundings, are deeply introspective.

The meaning of the series has been long debated. The titles were conferred after the sculptor’s death, when forty-nine works were exhibited in 1793. Messerschmidt was aware of contemporary medical theories, such as Johann Caspar Lavater’s 1775

study of physiognomy’s relation to human character, and he certainly knew his Viennese neighbour the physician Franz Anton Mesmer, who believed that outward senses connect to inner emotions and developed related therapies to treat his patients. However one assesses it, the series of is exceptional in eighteenth-century sculpture, stylistically advancing beyond Neoclassicism to a reductive

simplicity, forecasting modern minimalism, and psychologically rendering serial states of mind in a project that was novel for the pre-Freudian world.

This is part 1 of 3-part series on the works of Franz Messerschmidt:

1765-66 Emperor Francis I Stephen of Lorraine
© Belvedere, Vienna

1766 Maria Immaculata
tin-lead alloy: 300 cm high
Palais Liechtenstein, Vienna, Austria

1767 Emperor Joseph II
tin and copper 79 (with stone base) x 63 cm
Vienna Art History Museum, Kunstkamme

1769-70 Elijah Increases the oil of the widow
pewter lead alloy 173cm high (without plinth)
Liechtenstein Museum, Vienna, Austria

1769-70 Elijah Increases the oil of the widow 
detail

after 1770 “Simplicity of the Highest Degree” or “Democritus”
details not found

after 1770 A Strong Man
tin-lead alloy 44.5 x 26.7 x 22.9 cm
Private Collection

"A Strong Man" belongs to a group of Character Heads that feature a bald man with a tall, broad forehead and occasionally incised patterning to suggest a shaved head. They apparently depict the same man, thought by some to be Messerschmidt himself. Each head in this group served as a blank slate on which Messerschmidt could rework the model to create new and varying expressions.

Here the exaggeratedly arched eyebrows, blank pupils, and jocular expression mimic the mask-like artificiality of a clown's face, an association that contributed to the general popularity of these heads during the 19th century. 

after 1770 Just Rescued from Drowning
alabaster 40 x 20 x 25.5 cm
Private collection, Belgium

With The Vexed Man, this head belongs to a group of alabaster Character Heads probably depicting the same man but with his hair arranged in a variety of ways.

The title of this sculpture suggests that he just has been submerged in water; his lank hair (or a wig) hangs down on his forehead. But the distinctive hairstyle may relate to those featured on Gothic sculptures of southern Germany, which would have been familiar to Messerschmidt. In both this sculpture and The Vexed Man, the deep ear cavities are gouged out with the sculptor's drill.

1770 The Beaked
alabaster 43 cm high

1770 The Beaked

1770-72 Gerard van Swieten
marble 47 cm (with base) 31 cm wide 24 cm deep
Vienna Art History Museum, Kunstkammer

1770-72 Gerard van Swieten

1770-72 Gerard van Swieten

1770-80 The Satirist
lead-tin alloy (size not given)
Germanisces National Museum, Nuremberg

c1770-81 The Strong Smell
metal alloy 48.9 cm high (without base) 23 cm wide 32 cm deep
V&A Museum, London

c1770-81 The Strong Smell

1770-83 A gloomy dark man
lead-tin alloy 43.5 x 23 x 24 cm
Belvedere Museum Vienna, Baroque Museum, Austria

1770-83 Character Head
lead 
Germanic National Museum, Nuremberg, Germany

1770-83 ill Humoured Man
lead 39 cm high
Private Collection

1770-83 Incapable Bassoonist
 tin-alloy 42 cm high
Private Collection

1770-83 Old Age
yellow alabaster

1770-83 The Arch ­Evil
lead 38.5 cm high
Sterreichische Galerie, Vienna, Austria

1770-83 The Gentle, Quiet Sleep
cast metal 44 cm high
Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary

1770-83 The Gentle, Quiet Sleep

1770-83 The Hanged Man
alabaster 45 cm high
Sterreichische Galerie, Vienna, Austria

1770-83 The Hanged Man

1770-83 The Lecher
marble 45 cm high
Sterreichische Galerie, Vienna, Austria

c1770-83 A Hypocrite and a Slanderer
tin alloy 37 x 24.4 x 29.5 cm
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

c1770-83 A Hypocrite and a Slanderer