ID: 700007868 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700007868	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

The Vexed Man (sculpture (visual works); Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (German sculptor, 1736 - 1783) ; after 1770; J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los A...; 2008.4)

Note: The bust, truncated at the shoulders in the classical style, depicts a grimacing man, caught in a contorted expression of displeasure, or vexation, as the bust's title implies. The subject presses his eyes closed, as his whole face is drawn together in a deep grimace. His mouth is tightly closed, causing the creases of the cheek and jowls to create deeply etched symmetrical loops on either side of the mouth. The compression of his eye-lids causes a web of wrinkles to fan out across the temples at the outer edge of each eye. The sinews of his neck are stretched taut, almost to breaking point. His hair is combed back from his forehead and rests in thick curls at the nape of his neck.The Vexed Man forms part of an astonishing group of sixty-nine heads that the 18th-century German sculptor Franz Xaver Messerschmidt produced during the last thirteen years of his life. Carved in alabaster, or cast in lead or a tin alloy, these heads illustrate Messerschmidt's obsession with the power of expression and with pathognomy. The series is consistently high in sculptural quality and places Messerschmidt very much in the spirit of the Enlightenment, with its interest in phrenology, physiognomy, and mental states.After Messerschmidt's death, forty-nine of the heads were exhibited in a 1793 exhibition organized by a man named Stranzt (or Strontz), the cook of the Citizen's Hospital (Bürgerspital) in Vienna, who had bought them from the artist's brother, Johann Adam Messerschmidt. They were numbered and described in an anonymous catalogue accompanying the exhibition entitled Merkwürdige Lebensgeschichte des F. X. Messerschmidt, k.k. öffentlichen Lehrer der Bildhauerkunst (1794). Forty-three of these heads are traceable today. The titles were not Messerschmidt's own invention, but were added on the occasion of the exhibition in 1793. The heads were described as Charakterköpfe (Character Heads) in an article in the Wiener Zeitung (November 6, 1793). The title of "Vexed Man" (no. 21 in the series) appears to have been the anonymous author's interpretation of this sitter's expression as depicting vexation and irritation. Recent scholarly research on Messerschmidt's oeuvre suggests that his intentions were rather different, and that the sculptor had no intention of publicizing these works. Rather, they were a means for him to explore expression and acted as a form of ritual catharsis to rid the sculptor of the spirits which apparently invaded his psyche. The facial expression of the "Vexed Man" has two counterparts, namely "Der Nieser" ("The Sneezer") and "Der abgezehrte Alte mit Augenschmerze" ("Emaciated Old Man with Painful Eyes;" inv. no. 5638), although their hairstyles differ in detail.

Titles:

The Vexed Man (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,U,U)

Bust of a Man (C,U,DE,English,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

sculpture (visual works) [300047090] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

bust (general, figure) [300047457]

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by subject type>, figures (representations), <figures by portion represented>)

Classifications:

sculptures (preferred)

Creation Date: after 1770

Creator Display:

Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (German sculptor, 1736 - 1783) [preferred,JPGM]

sculptor Messerschmidt, Franz Xaver (Austrian sculptor, 1736-1783) [500067615]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500329598] J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2008.4

Other: Creation: Österreich [1000062] Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: alabaster

	alabaster (mineral) [300011101]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, mineral, gypsum)

Dimensions: Object: H: 39.4 x W: 27.3 x D: 26 cm (15 1/2 x 10 3/4 x 10 1/4 in.)

Cultures:

German (preferred)

Style/Period/Group/Movement:

	Neoclassical [300021477] (preferred,style)
	.....(Styles and Periods Facet, Styles and Periods (hierarchy name), <styles| periods| and cultures by region>, European, <modern European styles and movements>)

General Subject:

human figures (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	man (male human) [300025928]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by gender or sex>) (AAT)

	anger [300055151]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), social science concepts, psychological concepts, emotion, negative emotions) (AAT)

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
The Vexed Man	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Bust of a Man	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)

Subject: ....... [JPGM,VP]

Note:
English	..... [JPGM]
	..... J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)