Figure 49: Painful weeping and forward looking. 1854 - 1856

This is Figure 49: Painful weeping and forward looking, a photograph made by Guillaume Duchenne, probably in France, in the 1850s or 60s. This image is part of Duchenne's project of documenting the physiology of facial expression. Here, the image constructs meaning through stark realism. The subject's pained expression, seemingly induced by electric probes, reflects the scientific ambitions of the time to dissect and categorize human emotions. Duchenne, as a physician, was influenced by the burgeoning field of neurology and its attempts to map the body's responses. His work also comments on the positivist ideas pervasive in the 19th century, where science was believed to hold the key to understanding all aspects of human experience. The institutional context here is the rise of scientific photography, as well as the use of psychiatric patients as subjects. To fully appreciate this photograph, we can consult medical and photographic archives from the period to understand the visual codes and institutional practices that shaped its creation. This reveals how art is embedded in social and institutional contexts.