Twaalf bustes van jonge vrouwen met verschillende gemoedstoestanden 1835

Émilien Desmaisons created "Twelve Busts of Young Women with Different Moods" using lithography during a time when physiognomy, the assessment of a person's character or personality from their outer appearance, was in vogue. These aren't just pretty faces; they're studies in how emotions were read and codified in the 19th century. Notice how Desmaisons captures each woman’s supposed interiority through subtle cues: the set of her jaw, the direction of her gaze, the accessories and clothing. It's as if Desmaisons is handing us a manual on how to decode feminine emotion, which raises questions about the performance of gender. How much of what we see is genuine, and how much is shaped by societal expectations? The work invites us to consider how women’s emotional lives were both scrutinized and curated in the 1800s. It's a poignant, if somewhat clinical, look at the expectations placed on women.