Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and Modernity

Messerschmidt and Modernity explores the astonishingly modern series of so-called Character Heads created by the German Baroque artist Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (1736–1783). Installation view of Messerschmidt and Modernity The exhibition demonstrates how Messerschmidt's intriguing heads are linked to the 18th and 19th centuries' fascination with expression and the "passions," as well as with the pseudosciences of physiognomy and pathognomy. It also traces how this series influenced the work of artists in fin-de-siècle Vienna and contemporary artists in Austria, Great Britain, and the United States.

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt and Modernity
Kuratorin: Antonia Boström

Künstler: Franz Xaver Messerschmidt
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Tony Bevan, Tony Cragg, Ken Gonzales-Day, Bruce Nauman, Pierre Picot, Arnulf Rainer, Cindy Sherman.