Figure 32: Natural laughter by the voluntary contraction of the two large zygomatics and the lower palpebral orbicularis
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (French, 1806–1875)
c. 1856, printed 1862
Medium
Albumen print from glass plate negative
Dimensions
image: 15.1 × 11 cm · mounted: 41 × 27.6 cm
Classification
Photograph
Department
Photography
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
Accession Number
2018.9
Tags
male
About this artwork
Duchenne embarked on the first scientific, systematic exploration of the physiology of human facial expression and hoped, through photographs of the experiments, to teach artists how to portray those emotions. Here, he has photographed a subject’s natural smile and described the muscles creating it. In subsequent photographs, he used an electrode to contract one of the muscles that convey that same emotion.