“Between 1771 and 1783 he worked over a private series of busts—or ‘heads,’ as they came to be known—that exhibit both a stunning realism and a mesmerizing fascination with the expressive possibilities of the human grotesque.”

The heads of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, currently on view at the Neue Gallerie in New York.

5:41 pm  •  4 October 2010  •  35 notes