The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-05-22
The American Face
BY James Edward Kelly.

Wv physiognomy has undergone complete
- change, much of change, in fact, that tho
typical American face has become extinct. Nobody
realizes this fact clearly than the sculptor, espe
cally if the sculptor be one, like myself devoted to
Americana and to the plastic Of national
heroes and national events. ,.-y 60
Time was, In the early days Of our republic, when
the American face stood for something-stood for
tain definite sterling traits Of character which its pos
SCISSOR national unit admittedly recognized
possessing Take for instance the face Of Washington
that of Of the sgners of the Declaration of
Independence. What manner Of man does one read
from such countenances? Do their noble lineaments
not stand for the stanch virtues honesty for in
tegrity both of life and of character but above all
else do they not stand Enthusiastically for the simple
life for plain living and high thinkingF -. ~.
do not believe dissenting voice will be raised in
answer to this. Andsyet these typical American
faces The farmer, the merchant, the mechanic, the
small radesman of that day generation had with
out the slightest doubt faces moulded upon the
general lines those preserved to in the portraits
of that period The paintings Of Gilbert Stuart and
of all other early American artists show galaxy Of
men and women the nobility of whose countenances
is only equaled by their startling resemblance to
another In other words, we had up to revolutionary
times succeeded in evolving type of face peculiarly
Americana stern, uncompromising and unyieldingly
honest countenance: Men in those days all looked,
generally speaking very much alike and their wives
pleas of themselves A fine, noble type Of women,
no doubt but not beautiful women American women
beautiful This t whether beth Of
OF any other national type and it remained thru the
early decades Of the young republic up to and including
the period which ended with the Mexican war Then
swift tho subtle transformation began to be wrought
in the archeypa countenance The broad, noble head,
wide at the temples and high domed became modified
to a narrower dimension The sereney aquilne feat
lost much Of their chaste severity contour and
in their stead developed complex and highly
organized physognomy. The most distinguishing feat
of this hybrid face was the perceptive quality
AS have already remarked, it was no longer
serene, equipoised countenance. 1t was now keen,
inquiring and somewhat acquistive face And, curl
opsly enough it had by this time become almost
petey differentiated from the American IS face.
The American woman had begun to develop a face on
her own account face which, where it had formerly
been distngushable by Of it's strong aqui
line contour presented charm and coquetry Pc
culiary feminine and essentially cosmopolitan As for
the masculine type it's most distinguishing char.
acteristc in the forehead and the eyes. All the
Of that period show foreheads that bulge out most
perceptiby over deep-set serious eyes, and this char
acteristc reached it's zenith with ;he Of the civil
war. Daguerreotypes Of that period show complete
evolution Of countenance from that possessed by the
men who fought the Of the revolution Heads are
longer faces narrower, foreheads are veritable
she above the eyes, and the eyes themselves have
deep-set keenness such as may search for in vain
among the men of any other any other nation
Invariably it is fine, clear, manly, temperate face
the reflection Of characteristic national spirit of
tegrity. 1t has been my rare good fortune to know
personally, and often Intimately nearly all the heroes
who survived the war of the rebellion, and in my
capacity artist to make studies of their heads
It has also been my privilege TO- model many of tho
eternally startled by two facts that u.s. first how very
much all the of the civil war resembed each other
and how very much they had in common with the ma
tiona type Of that period; and second how very far
the presentday type has departed from that Of even
50 recent date as the civil The national type has
been hppelessly destroyed irretrievably lost. -
The keen edge Of our features has become blunted.
as the keen edge Of national conscience has
become blunted We have no longer national type,
distinguished by ceancut profile, sensitive nostril
firmly modelled chin. And, more conspicuously than
all else are nation without throat. In the pro.
cess OF little more than hundred years Of national
evolution have modified our Adam s apple into 2
mere rudmentary physiognomcal feature. Today tho
American has no type-he is cosmopolitan in feature
as German or Frenchman or an Englshman.