Messerschmidt's Character Heads

Maddening Sculpture and the Writing of Art History
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-1-032-09630-8
Verlag: Routledge

Buch, Englisch, 206 Seiten, Format (B × H): 178 mm x 254 mm, Gewicht: 398 g

Reihe: Studies in Art Historiography

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.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Yonan, Michael

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunst, allgemein Einzelne Künstler: Biographien, Monografien
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Kunstformen, Kunsthandwerk Bildhauerei, Plastik, Denkmäler
• Geisteswissenschaften Kunst Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen Künstlerische Stoffe, Motive, Themen: Menschen, Häusliches Umfeld
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Deutsche Geschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Table of Contents

Introduction

Part I: Writing the Artist’s Mind

Introduction to Part I

Chapter 1: Nicolai’s Dreamer

Chapter 2: Kris’s Psychotic

Part II: Writing the Artist’s Context

Introduction to Part II

Chaper 3: Mesmer’s Acolyte

Chapter 4: Lichtenberg’s Ally

Part III: Writing the Artist’s Project

Introduction to Part III

Chapter 5: The Game of Making

Chapter 6: The Envy of the Gods

Conclusion

Über Autor(innen)

Michael Yonan is associate professor of art history at the University of Missouri–Columbia, USA. He is a specialist in eighteenth-century European art and material culture.