Figure 49: Painful weeping and forward looking.
1854–56, printed 1862
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image (Oval): 28.6 × 20.5 cm (11 1/4 × 8 1/16 in.) Sheet: 29.5 × 22.8 cm (11 5/8 × 9 in.) Mount: 40.1 × 28.7 cm (15 13/16 × 11 5/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, The Buddy Taub Foundation Gift, Dennis A. Roach and Jill Roach, Directors; Harris Brisbane Dick and William E. Dodge Funds; and W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg Gift, 2013
Accession Number
2013.173.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, French neurologist Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne revolutionized the study of human emotion through photography, collaborating with photographer Adrien Tournachon (Nadar's brother). *Figure 49: Painful weeping and forward looking* (1854–56, printed 1862) captures a man's face in an intense expression of sorrow—eyes wide and forward-gazing, mouth contorted in a cry—achieved by electrically stimulating facial muscles. This albumen silver print from a glass negative, prized for its sharp detail and rich tonal range, exemplifies early scientific portraiture....
About the Artist
Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne|Adrien Tournachon (French|French) · 1806 |1825 –1875 |1903
French, 1806–1875|French, 1825–1903