Going to Extremes: Physiognomy, Caricature, and Studies of Expression
Long before scientists started to systematically investigate facial expressions in the nineteenth century, artists explored facial features, created caricatures, and observed faces in movement. This selection of prints, drawings, and photographs speaks to a human fascination with depicting and reading faces and to the rich possibilities of a face's arrangements and their resulting impressions on a beholder. The works by Guercino, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and Thomas Rowlandson on view here demonstrate the influence of Leonardo da Vinci's grotesque figures and the development of caricature in early modern Europe. The art of caricature (from the Italian caricatura, meaning a "loaded portrait") featured an exaggerated and humorous representation of a specific individual and often built upon Renaissance theories of physiognomy, which claimed that an individual's character could be judged through his or her facial attributes. Later artists across diverse cultures continued to manifest an interest in extreme expressions using a variety of media. The opposite wall features a range of animated faces, moving from Clarence White's photographs of fear and grief to Japanese woodblock prints depicting kabuki actors and Ana Mendieta's distorted self-portraits.
Veronica White
Curator of Academic Programs
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Old Man in CapOld Man in Cap,
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HeadsHeads, ca. 1645
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Woman with Deformed LipsWoman with Deformed Lips, 1630s–40s
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Profile of an unshaven PopeProfile of an unshaven Pope,
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Monk seated on a low bench, readingMonk seated on a low bench, reading, 1630s–40s
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Two men in broad-brimmed, high-crowned hatsTwo men in broad-brimmed, high-crowned hats, 1630s–40s
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Caricature of a cook in a tall hat, holding a pestleCaricature of a cook in a tall hat, holding a pestle,
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Caricature of a man in a map, facing leftCaricature of a man in a map, facing left,
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Caricature of a standing fat man in a cap, facing leftCaricature of a standing fat man in a cap, facing left,
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Man Leaving a FuneralMan Leaving a Funeral, 1730s
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Man and camelMan and camel,
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Man's head and sheep's headMan's head and sheep's head,
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