“Vexed Man” Photo Shoot

On Saturday, July 23, members of PADA met at the home studio of Reidar Schopp to make a series of portraits based on the Getty Center’s “Vexed Man” portrait sculpture. The Getty Center described this piece as follows:

“The Vexed Man is one of a series of sixty-nine portrait busts or "character heads" made by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, an eighteenth-century German sculptor active in Austria. Messerschmidt sculpted them during the last thirteen years of his life, while apparently suffering from mental illness.”

Our photographers took inspiration from the Getty sculpture to create their own photographic versions. The original “Vexed Man” bust and the Vexed-Man-inspired work from two PADA photographers can be seen below.

—Posted by Paul Anderson

The Vexed Man by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt (part of the Getty Collection)

Catholic Guilt, by Reidar Schopp

By Reidar Schopp

By Patrick Smyth

By Patrick Smyth

By Patrick Smyth

By Patrick Smyth

By Reidar Schopp

By Patrick Smyth