Fright
- Fright
- from Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine ou Analyse électro-physiologique de l’expression des passions applicable à la pratique des arts plastiques (Mechanism of Human Physiognomy or Electro-Physiological Analysis of the Expression of Passions Applicable to the Practice of the Visuals Arts.)
Sheet: 8 3/4 × 6 1/4 in. (22.2 × 15.9 cm)
Mount: 15 13/16 × 10 13/16 in. (40.2 × 27.5 cm)
Explore Further
Among the most gripping photographs of the 19th century, plates from Duchenne de Boulogne’s Mechanism of Human Physiognomy occupy a unique place at the intersection of art, science, and sentiment. A pioneering neurologist and physiologist as well as an amateur aesthetician, Duchenne de Boulogne conducted a series of experiments aimed at eliciting expressions of the principal emotions through the electrical stimulation of facial muscles. His goal was to publish an updated version of earlier treatises on the “passions of the soul”—attention, aggression, pain, joy, lasciviousness, sadness, surprise—this time based in science and recorded accurately with photography for use by artists.
ProvenanceLikely Alphonse Bertillon, Paris, d. 1914; by descent to Pascal Vincent-Bertillon; purchased by MFAH, 2015.
Published References R. Andrew Cuthbertson, ed. and trans. The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression by G-B Duchenne de Boulogne. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; Paris: Editiion de la Maison des Sciences de L’Homme, 1990. Jean-François Debord. Duchenne de Boulogne. Chalon-sur-Saône: Musée Nicéphore Nièpce, 1982. André Jammes, “Duchenne de Boulogne, la grimace provoquée et Nadar,” in Gazette des Beaux-Arts 92 (December 1978). Catherine Mathon et al. Duchenne de Boulogne 1806-1875. Paris: École nationale supérieure des beaux-arts, 1999. Nancy Ann Roth, “Electrical Expressions: The Photographs of Duchenne de Boulogne,” in Multiple Views: Logan Grant Essays on Photography, 1983-89, Daniel P. Younger, ed. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1991. Pp. 105-138. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
printed lower right below image: DUCHENNE (de Boulogne), phot.
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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