MANILA, Philippines - A highly innovative contributor to late Baroque sculpture, this German-born Austrian artist, sometimes referred to as one of the best expressionist neoclassical sculptors, is best known for his series of grimacing portrait busts called “character heads,†which he sculpted in lead and alabaster.
Known as “Characterkopfe,†these works were produced as the sculptor fell into mental illness. As a result, some art historians have suggested they were not so much studies in pathognomy or physiognomy, as attempts by the artist to exorcise his private demons. Whatever the case, these heads are startlingly modern works of sculpture, and reveal his exceptional talent for combining realism with classical stylization.
He produced 64 heads in total, including: “Character Head: The Beaked Man†(1770, Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna); “Character Head: Ill Humored Man†(1770-83, private collection); and “Character Head: The Hanged Man†(1770-83, Osterreichische Galerie, Vienna).
Heads
As with several modern artists after him, including Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch, it is thought that his genius in his sculptures may have been linked to the onset of a mental illness, induced by hallucinations and paranoia. The heads represent a series of men whose faces are contorted into various grimaces. It is believed that he may have suffered from undiagnosed Crohn’s disease, which caused him endless discomfort. According to the German author Friedrich Nicolai, who visited the sculptor in his studio, the sculptor used to pinch his lower ribs to focus his thoughts away from his suffering. He then observed his grimaces in the mirror and set about recording them in bronze and marble. His intention, he told the author was to represent the 64 “canonical grimaces†of the human face using himself as a template.
He also seemed to suffer from severe hallucinations: dreams of spirits visiting him at night and torturing him. One of his most famous heads, “Character Head: The Beaked Man,†carved from alabaster was the result of one of these terrifying dreams. The artist sought to arrange his grimaces into a scientific system, which he believed would benefit others in similar distress.
Retirement and death
After the 1770s, he found himself increasingly at odds with his peers, many of whom ridiculed his head sculptures — an attitude which may have further aggravated his mental condition. In 1774, when he applied for the vacant position of leading professor at the Academy where he had been teaching for five years, he was instead, expelled. A letter to the Empress explained that he had a “confusion of the head.†In bitterness, he retreated into retirement, devoting himself exclusively to his busts until he died in 1783. After his death, 69 heads were found in his studio, of which only 43 survive today.
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