About this artwork
In collaboration with photographer Adrien Tournachon, French neurologist Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne de Boulogne recorded electrically induced facial expressions to illustrate his book on the subject. This print offers a rare example of an albumen print whose brown and purple tones still look as vivid as the day it was made. The rich color is an unintended byproduct of the addition of gold chloride (a chemical compound of gold and chlorine) to the processing bath, done to increase the stability of the image. Albumen images generally convey sharp details because the albumen binder prevents the silver particles from sinking into the fibers of the paper support. This sharpness is especially suitable for scientific images.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Photography and Media
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Artist
- G.-B. (Guillaume Benjamin) Duchenne
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Title
- Electrical Excitation of m. zygomaticus minor and m. corrugator supercilii: Painful Weeping, c. 1856, plate 49 from The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression, published 1862
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Place
- France (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1851–1861
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Medium
- Albumen print
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Dimensions
- Image: 23 × 17.5 cm (9 1/16 × 6 15/16 in.); Paper: 40 × 27.5 cm (15 3/4 × 10 7/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Photography and Media Purchase Fund
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Reference Number
- 2018.14
Extended information about this artwork
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.
