Faesch, Emil (1865-1915), Sketch of a head, 1888

Emil Faesch(1865 Basel - 1915 Basel). Sketch of a head. Charcoal on painting cardboard, 60 x 47.5 cm (folio size), signed and dated at lower right "E. Faesch. 1888.".

- Carved in stone -

The life-size head has an immensely present presence. This effect is due to the fact that Faesch took his cue from academic classical busts, but made the head naturalistic, right down to the eyelashes and the folds of the eyelids, thus breaking through the distance of classical ideality and creating an immediacy. Paradoxically, the liveliness thus achieved culminates in the fact that the sitter appears to have exhaled the breath of life. The present presence is thus transferred back to the eternity of the stone, in whose specific materiality the face and especially the hair shimmer, while the upper part of the body clearly exposes the stone.
The architect Emil Faesch, who was initially trained as a draughtsman and modeller and would continue to practise this profession as a teacher at the Gewerbeschule Basel, has here created an impressive reinterpretation of the academic study head, into which he breathes new life, while at the same time surrounding it with the breath of death.

About the artist

Emil Faesch was a member of the famous Faesch family of Basel goldsmiths. At an early age, the artistically gifted Faesch attended the Basel School of Drawing and Modelling, where he studied under Fritz Schider. After an apprenticeship at the architectural firm of Vischer & Fürter, he continued his training as an architect by studying at the Technical University of Munich under August and Friedrich Thiersch. In 1892 he was appointed curator at the Gewerbemuseum in Basel. From 1893 he taught at the associated Gewerbeschule. In 1897 he resigned to work as a freelance architect.
Faesch built many public buildings that shaped the cityscape, as well as bridges. These include the prominent Mittlere Rheinbrücke in Basel.

Selected bibliography

Saur, Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon. Die bildenden Künstler aller Zeiten und Völker, vol. 36, p. 192.