Messerschmidt, Franz XaverFranz Xaver Messerschmidt was born in Wiesensteig, Germany, in 1736, one of multiple children in a dyer's family. He moved to Munich in 1746, where he apprenticed with his uncles Johann Baptist Straub, a wood sculptor at the Munich court, and Philipp Jakob Straub, a sculptor in Graz. In 1755 Messerschmidt studied in Vienna; five years later he was working for the Viennese imperial court. In 1777 he moved to Preburg, where he died five years later. |
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Edited by Wolfgang Häusler, Michael Krapf. Text by Maraike Bückling, Renate Fanta, Magda Keleti, Almut Krapf-Weiler. Smirking, dim-witted, grimacing, or disgusted--that is how the character studies that Franz Xaver Messerschmidt cast in lead or cut into alabaster appear to viewers. They are sculptures that do not adhere to any classical ideal of beauty, instead confronting the viewer with a typology of the ugly. The fascinating character busts by the baroque sculptor Messerschmidt may be indebted to his contemporary Johann Kaspar Lavater, yet they never cease to amaze with their untimely artistic aggressiveness--their modernism even--exposing the flip sides of human expression. Messerschmidt, who created conventional portraits of dignitaries such as Empress Maria Theresia and Joseph II while working at the Imperial Academy in Vienna, began his turn toward an exclusive production of character busts around 1770, a predilection that quickly gained him the reputation of a maverick. Having taken early retirement due to a psychological disorder that was never clearly defined, he spent the rest of his life as a recluse living in Pressburg. This extensive monograph about an exceptional artist attempts an interpretation of the deeper meaning in an oeuvre that is as unusual as it is uncompromising. PUBLISHED BY: Hatje Cantz Publishers FORMAT: Hardcover, 9.5 x 11.75 in. / 240 pgs / 70 color ISBN: 9783775712460 ISBN10: 3775712461 PUBLICATION DATE: 05/02/2003 AVAILABILITY: Out of Print. Check the Stores tab to locate a shop that may have copies. Bookseller Price Code: TRADE |
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