Franz Xaver Messerschmidt was an 18th century German sculptor who is said to have had mental disturbances which came through in his art. Fascinatingly 19 of his sculptures have been grouped together for a show at the Louvre and travels from Paris to New York. The title of the show is “Franz Xaver Messerschmidt 1736-1783: From Neoclassicism to Expressionism.” Messerschmidt was a sculptor from a young age and by the age of 18 was admitted to a Fine Arts Academy in Vienna. He specializes in busts and portraits of people. He has even done a few busts that are self portraits. His portraits have captivated many over time because of thier extreme expressions. When asked by an interviewer once where he had drawn inspiration he admitted that there were spirits that tomented him and if he did sculptures of them it somehow helped the "spirits" stay subdued. I picked this article simply because the faces captivated me and I wanted to read more and learn more about what the faces were. This artist was known to be a bit crazy mentally and seems to have had disturbances that could not be subdued or reduced to simply nothing or something everyone experiences. Whatever his interactions were with "spirits" or however he was feeling or whatever he was seeing he made amazing sculptured busts of human faces with expressions that draw a viewer in. There is deffinately strong form, line and shape in his sculptures. The expressions in some of them are simple captivating and fun to look at. I enjoyed running into this article about this artist because in fact I had seen the peice before that I put up here but did not know who did it or about the artist so I'm glad to know now.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/17/arts/design/17messerschmidt.html?_r=1&ref=arts
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