Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon (French, 1806-1875 & 1825-1903)
A false, incomplete expression of agreeable surprise, or admiration, 1862, negative, circa 1856
Albumen print from a glass negative
22.3 x 16.8 cm oval on 22.8 x 17.5 cm paper, mounted on 40.9 x 27.5 cm paper
"Fig 33" in pencil on mount verso

A pioneering neurologist and physiologist, Duchenne de Boulogne was the first scientist to explain that facial expressions were connected to human emotions through discrete muscle actions. The results of Duchenne’s experiments and collaboration with photographer Adrien Tournachon, illustrated in Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, occupy a distinct place at the intersection of art and science.

Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon (French, 1806-1875 & 1825-1903)
"Mécanique de la Physionomie", before March 1857
Coated salt print from four collodion negatives
Four images, each 10.4 x 8.3 cm, trimmed oval, on 25.6 x 18.0 cm paper, mounted on 29.4 x 22.3 cm card
Titled and credited "par le Dr Duchenne de Boulogne" and "A.T. Nadar Jne phot." on the mount

Dr. Duchenne submitted this composite photograph for the Volta Prize in March 1857. In 1858 he was awarded an honorary medal for the application of electricity in medicine. Featured in this print is Duchenne's most frequent subject, a toothless shoemaker.

The credit "A.T. Nadar Jne" was used by Tournachon prior to the outcome of a lawsuit between himself and his brother Nadar (born Gaspard-Felix Tournachon) over the name "Nadar." Nadar had supported and promoted his younger brother Adrien's activities until they quarreled and split. Adrien insisted on continuing to call himself Nadar jeune (Nadar the Younger) while Nadar maintained that his name, which he had made famous, was his alone to use. Nadar finally took Adrien to court. The suit dragged on for three years until Nadar won the final appeal in 1859.

Duchenne de Boulogne (French, 1806-1875)
Back of a boy, 1865
Albumen print
16.1 x 11.6 cm mounted on 27.3 x 19.2 cm paper
"Photographies Pathologiques / Fig. 14. / Phot. par le Dr Duchenne (de Boulogne). / Publié par J. G. Bailliere et Fils, à Paris." printed on mount

Duchenne de Boulogne (French, 1806-1875)
Back of a man, 1865
Albumen print
16.1 x 11.6 cm on 27.3 x 19.2 cm plate, mounted
"Photographies Pathologiques / Fig. 5. / Phot. par le Dr Duchenne (de Boulogne). / Publié par J. G. Bailliere et Fils, à Paris." printed on mount

Duchenne de Boulogne and Adrien Tournachon (French, 1806-1875 & 1825-1903)
Portrait of the old man in profile, 1862, negative, circa 1856
Albumen print from a glass negative
22.1 x 16.5 cm oval on 22.8 x 17.5 cm paper, mounted on 41.0 x 27.3 cm paper

A pioneering neurologist and physiologist, Duchenne de Boulogne was the first scientist to explain that facial expressions were connected to human emotions. He demonstrated this by using electrical probes to trigger discrete muscle contractions and recording these in photographs by Adrien Tournachon. Duchenne believed the human face was a kind of map, the features of which could be codified into universal taxonomies of mental states and was convinced that it was through a reading of facial expressions alone which could reveal an accurate rendering of the soul's emotions. These notions Duchenne sought conclusively and scientifically to chart by his experiments and photography. Duchenne was certain that the "truth" of his experiments could only be effectively rendered by photography, the subject's expressions being too fleeting to be drawn or painted. "Only photography," Duchenne wrote, "as truthful as a mirror, could attain such desirable perfection." He worked with the talented young photographer Adrien Tournachon, the brother of Felix Nadar, in order to document his experiments. Their results are illustrated in Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine, the first publication on the expression of human emotions to be illustrated with photographs, a milestone at the intersection of art and science.

Duchenne's primary subject was this old, thin-faced and toothless man whose features lent themselves to the sometimes dramatic, even disturbing, expressions documented in Tournachon's photographs.