Comments on: Character Heads

Character Heads

misteraitch — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 06:15:22 -0800

Character Heads (Die Charakterköpfe, the first link is in German) - the remarkable late work of eccentric/mad 18th century Austrian sculptor Franz Xavier Messerschmidt.

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 06:29:11 -0800

Oh My Stars-N-Garters this is Brilliant! Thanks!

By: jamespake

jamespake — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 06:44:25 -0800

That first link has some of the finest artistic representations of constipation that I have ever seen.

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 07:20:05 -0800

[Messerschmidt] completed portrait reliefs of Emperor Joseph II and his wife...each of which clearly indicates a tendency to heightened individuality. I wonder if they looked as if they were sucking on lemons too? But in 1770 he apparently suffered a severe psychic crisis and consequently in 1774 he was not given the hoped-for professorship at the Academy. After this insult he left Vienna and joined his brother in Pressburg (now Bratislava), where, regarded as a crank, he worked on his "character heads" until his death. Ya gotta love an eccentric genius! Brilliant sculptor, IMO.

By: basilwhite

basilwhite — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 07:30:27 -0800

Franz Xavier Messerschmidt. His name is my name too, three, four, five.

By: basilwhite

basilwhite — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 07:30:58 -0800

whenever we go out

By: yeahyeahyeahwhoo

yeahyeahyeahwhoo — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 09:13:18 -0800

these are awesome, thanks! i can't believe people made these faces over 200 years ago!

By: letitrain

letitrain — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 09:21:42 -0800

The man still gets no respect - I saw one of these in the Österreichische Galerie in Vienna, and it was located just outside the bathroom. It was my second favorite piece in the whole museum. (Gustav Klimt's Judith was first...)

By: snez

snez — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 09:56:56 -0800

Thank you misteraitch - this is the perfect way to start my morning!

By: madamjujujive

madamjujujive — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 20:43:04 -0800

very cool misteraitch - thanks!

By: luminol

luminol — Fri, 04 Apr 2003 20:10:11 -0800

The ever-handy Clive Barker's A-Z of Horror had a good entry on Messerschmidt. His friend, artist Freidrick Nicolai, wrote about a visit to the artist's studio: [He] believed evil demons came to him at night to persecute him. 'But eventually I realized that the spirit of proportion envies me for coming so near to perfection in my work,' explained the artist. 'So the spirit causes me physical pain.' To ward off these demonic spirits, he devised a system of pinches carefully combined with certain facial contortions. He would pull faces in front of his mirror and deemed himself witness to themost amazing effects of his power over the spirits. 'I decided to fix these grimacing proportions permanently,' said Messerschmidt, 'an army of magical heads to protect me from the spirits.' But in the corner of the room stood a rather different head; its form utterly curious and misproportioned; the face drawn almost into the shape of a beak. 'And the demon pinched me that time,' revealed the afflicated artist. 'I tell you, it nearly did for me. Luckily, it let off a sudden hellish fart and disappeared in the midst of a dreadful stench. Or it would surely have been the death of me...'