Messerschmidt's Character Heads: Maddening Sculpture and the Writing of Art History

Description

This book examines a famous series of sculptures by the German artist Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783) known as his "Character Heads." These are busts of human heads, highly unconventional for their time, representing strange, often inexplicable facial expressions. Scholars have struggled to explain these works of art.? Some have said that Messerschmidt was insane, while others suggested that he tried to illustrate some sort of intellectual system. Michael Yonan argues that these sculptures are simultaneously explorations of art’s power and also critiques of the aesthetic limits that would be placed on that power. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Table of Contents Figures Acknowledgments Introduction Notes Part I Writing the Artist’s Mind 1 Nicolai’s Dreamer Nicolai’s Popular Philosophy The Philosopher and the Sensitive Soul Fabulism and Fantastic Art Characterizing the German Artist Dangerous Schwärmerei Nicolai’s Visions Notes 2 Kris’s Psychotic Kris’s Case Homosexuality and Creativity Experiments of Nature Messerschmidt in Postwar America Legend, Myth, and Magic Notes Part II Writing the Artist’s Context 3 Mesmer’s Acolyte Parallel Lives Science in Eighteenth-Century Vienna Magnets from Hell What Happened in 1775 Magnetic Messerschmidt Mesmerizing Art Notes 4 Lichtenberg’s Ally The Hogarth of Sculpture Messerschmidt and Ducreux Splenetic Englishmen Lavater’s Spleen Lichtenberg’s Passion Messerschmidt’s Satire Notes Part III Writing the Artist’s Project 5 The Game of Making The Shape of Emotion Permutations of the Theme Process and Production Patterns and Systems Messerschmidt’s Rococo Notes 6 The Envy of the Gods The Vienna Academy Reformed Messerschmidt and Sperges Messerschmidt and Kaunitz The Heroic Ideal “The Curtains Have Opened to Reveal the Puppet Show” Köremon’s Nature and Art Ironically, the Future Notes Conclusion Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary Sources Index