Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne)

Figure 32: Natural laughter by the voluntary contraction of the two large zygomatics and the lower palpebral orbicularis

c. 1856, printed 1862

Albumen print from glass plate negative

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland — check current display status with the museum.

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Discussion

FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

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.

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