Research Catalog
Messerschmidt's character heads : maddening sculpture and the writing of art history
- Title
- Messerschmidt's character heads : maddening sculpture and the writing of art history / Michael Yonan.
- Author
- Yonan, Michael Elia
- Publication
- New York ; London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2018.
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1 Item
| Status | Format | Access | Call Number | Item Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Text | Use in library | NB511.5.M47 Y66 2018g | Off-site |
Holdings
Details
- Description
- xii, 193 pages : illustrations; 27 cm.
- Summary
- 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.
- Series Statement
- Studies in art historiography
- Uniform Title
- Studies in art historiography.
- Subjects
- Genre/Form
- Criticism, interpretation, etc.
- Bibliography (note)
- Includes bibliographical references (pages 182-190) and index.
- ISBN
- 9781138213432
- 9781315448404
- 1315448408
- 1138213438
- LCCN
- 40027771219
- OCLC
- ocn985651958
- 985651958
- SCSB-8961998
- Owning Institutions
- Columbia University Libraries