Electro–Physiologie, Figure 64

Adrien Tournachon|Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne

1854–56, printed 1862 · Albumen silver print from glass negative · Photographs

In compiling a scientific treatise to aid artists, the physiologist Duchenne de Boulogne used electrical stimulation of the facial muscles to elicit expressions of the principal emotions. Wanting his transcriptions to be exact, he collaborated with Adrien Tournachon (brother of the famous Nadar), a photographer who specialized in portraiture. From the negatives they made together in 1854, Adrien produced a single set of carefully crafted prints that the doctor mounted in a large album (now École des Beaux-Arts, Paris). Later, on his own, Duchenne copied and cropped the images to create illustrations for his book Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine; ou, Analyse électro-physiologique de l’expression des passions applicable à la pratique des arts plastiques (1862). In the volume, Duchenne wrote that the subject of this image seems terrified of the idea of imminent death or torture: “This expression must be that of the damned.”

Artist

Adrien Tournachon|Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne

Date

1854–56, printed 1862

Medium

Albumen silver print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Purchase, The Buddy Taub Foundation Gift, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors, 2012