Standing on Messerschmidt’s Head(s)

Replicas of Messerschmidt heads are coming to Nova Gorica and Gorizia.

Two replicas of Messerschmidt's heads will be installed in two outdoor urban locations in Nova Gorica and Gorizia at the end of April. The originals are now on display at the Coronini Cronberg Palace. Visitors will be able to interact with them, as they will contain a QR code that will lead to texts in Slovenian, Italian and English with further information on their history.

The two heads in the Coronini collections were not included in the group of 49 works repeatedly exhibited since 1793, as they had probably been previously sold by Messerschmidt's brother, who affixed the initials “F. M. Sch.” and perhaps also intervened with some cold finishing. Unlike the other works in the series, which were able to stand on their own on a base directly incorporated into the bust, the Gorizian works, following subsequent reworking, instead rest on a wooden support, set into an alabaster pedestal. Identified by scholars as Variant of the Greater Simplicity of Spirit, this head was named by Count Guglielmo Coronini the Sneeze.

At first, the heads were presented as something strange, but it was not until the 20th century that their remarkable innovation was recognised, with modern psychoanalytic theories shedding light on the sculptor's creative processes. Since then, interest in Messerschmidt has grown steadily, especially in German-speaking countries, and in the last decade has developed into a truly international phenomenon.