Figure 7: Étude du méchanisme et de l'expression du muscle frontal chez un vieillard: à droit, attention; à gauche, repos

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) (French, 1806–1875)

Adrien Tournachon (French, 1825–1903)

c. 1856, printed 1862

Medium
Albumen print from glass plate negative
Classification
Photograph
Dimensions
Image: 16.2 x 11.9 cm (6 3/8 x 4 11/16 in.); Paper: 23.5 x 17.9 cm (9 1/4 x 7 1/16 in.); Mounted: 41.2 x 27.4 cm (16 1/4 x 10 13/16 in.)
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography
Credit line
Severance and Greta Millikin Trust
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

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.