Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure 45: Contraction électrique forte des triangulaires des lèvres et des sourciliers: douleur et déspoir

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne

Date: c. 1856, printed 1862
Medium: Albumen print from glass plate negative
Culture: France, 19th century
Department: Photography
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art

Duchenne embarked on the first scientific, systematic exploration of the physiology of human facial expression and hoped, through photographs of his experiments, to teach artists how to portray those emotions. The experiments were performed by applying electrical stimulation to a single muscle on one side of the face, so that the viewer could clearly see the impact of the muscular contraction. Duchenne, a neurologist at a hospital for the poor in Paris, turned to photography to record the grammar of human expression.

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