The 64 Canonical Grimaces of Messerschmidt

I'd never heard of Franz Xaver Messerschmidt until the Neue Gallery put on an exhibition of his work last year. The busts, collectively, depict the artist's notion that there are “64 canonical grimaces,” and the resulting expressions are priceless. See, The Yawn:

And, The Incapable Bassoonist:



And, The Difficult Secret:

The late 18th century, when these busts were made, was the time when emotions and passions made their way into the arts, but they generally did so in a more grotesque way, and mostly dealt in grand themes – death, war, the majesty of nature – and not in the everyday.

But the trove of history also contains a just a bit of screwball comedy, and makes barely enough room between the upheavals and catastrophes for the prosaic quirks that mark our less consequential days. Messerschmidt celebrates the little imperfections. Isn't it charming that we make the same goofy expressions today as they did 250 years ago? And, there was a healthy sense of the absurd in the 1700s – isn't that neat?

But alas, Messerschmidt is largely forgotten. It seems that, just like at the Oscars, humor, even when brilliant, doesn't stand a chance against the more agonizing themes.