Anatomical Sketches of Heads and Facial Expressions
date: label: Date
content: 1877–80
name: label: Artist
content: Frederic Edwin Church, American, 1826–1900
notes: label: Catalogue Status
content: Research in Progress
label: Description
content: Figure sketches showing twenty-four anatomical views of the human head, neck, eyes, and sternum. Five frontally viewed heads are shown along the upper margin: the three at left belonging to a deceased individual with emaciated features, while the two at upper right represent the ostensibly "Roman" and "Greek" type of heads/faces (based on pseudo-scientific and misleading phrenological analyses popular in the 19th century). Below these, six other heads are included: three in left profile and three viewed frontally. At far right, two sketches of eyes are visible: the uppermost one representing an "eye of health," while the lower one, an "eye of sickness." At center, five other representations of heads are included--two looking upward (one viewed frontally, the other in profile), while at lower left, a diagram of the human sternum is articulated in some detail. Finally, at lower right, two anatomical drawings of the musculature and skeletal structure of the human neck are included.
label: Description
content: Verso: Figures sketches showing eight anatomical views of the human head, torso, and leg. Along the upper margin, three drawings show (from left to right) a twisted head and neck from an oblique angle, the torso, shoulders, and head of a figure with their head leaning backwards and neck arched upwards, and, at upper right, the head and shoulders of a male figure shown from above. At center, the upper body, left arm, and part of the neck and chin of lying or deceased individual are clearly delineated. Below it, the outline of a lower leg and foot are shown beside an isolated sketch of a nose. At lower right, a view of an elderly man in left profile is shown above the outline of a woman's head, also in left profile. The man's face has several wrinkles.
place: label: made in
content: USA
setName: label: See more items in
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collection
label: See more items in
content: Drawings, Prints, and Graphic Design Department
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Louis P. Church
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: 1917-4-1531
objectType: label: Type
content: figures
label: Object Name
content: Drawing
label: Type
content: Drawing
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Graphite on gray-green wove paper; verso: graphite
label: Dimensions
content: 44.6 × 27.1 cm (17 9/16 × 10 11/16 in.)