Kop van een Slavoniër 1858

Johannes Tavenraat created this head study of a Slavonian man using pen in the nineteenth century. During this period, physiognomy, the study of facial features, was considered a science. Many believed that one could deduce character, intellect, and even morality, based on the external appearance of the face. What does it mean to distill someone down to their features, and then have those features stand in for broader judgements? Here, Tavenraat captures the man in profile, meticulously detailing his hair and beard. Note the emphasis on his features, which invites us to consider the man’s identity through a lens shaped by now-discredited scientific theories. How can we, as viewers, contend with the power dynamics inherent in such depictions? This drawing invites reflection on how we perceive and represent each other, urging us to question the assumptions we bring to our encounters with the unfamiliar.