Franz Xaver Messerschmidt

Messerschmidt became mentally ill in the later years of his life (1771-1784) the period during which he had created the 69 busts. He was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, and during analysis told doctors he was persecuted by demons at night who visited and tortured him at night. Most of his disturbances centered upon the mouth, and he was very troubled that men, unlike animals display the red of the lips. His preoccupation with the mouth seems to be the result of his associating it directly with the anus. While working on the sculpted heads he pinched himself repeatedly in certain areas of his body. Combined with violently contorted facial expressions, both aimed at gaining control over the demons. His image making activity was largely confined to self portraiture based on the distorted facial expressions as seen in a mirror. The busts function as masks and guardian images in a desperate but intensely focused attempted to ward them off.





The above piece, according to him, actually depicts the ‘demon of proportion’ (as he called it) and can be understood as an illustration of his hallucination. The mouth is dealt with as a strange beak-like shape with no indication of lips.