Johann Gaspar Spurzheim (1776-1832) 1833

Curator: Alvan Fisher’s portrait of Johann Gaspar Spurzheim, held here at the Harvard Art Museums, offers a fascinating glimpse into the world of 19th-century intellectual life. Editor: My first impression is of a pensive mood, almost melancholic. The subdued palette and the way he holds the plaster head…it feels like a meditation on mortality. Curator: Indeed. Spurzheim was a key figure in popularizing phrenology, the now-discredited science that linked skull shapes to character traits. Fisher, as the artist, was part of the burgeoning visual culture surrounding this. Editor: It's ironic, isn't it? Measuring minds through material form, immortalized through paint and canvas. I see the human desire to decode ourselves in the brushstrokes. Curator: Absolutely. The materiality, the labor of portraiture meets the material of phrenology to reveal social practice. Editor: The painting makes me contemplate the boundaries of science and art, and how we project our hopes and anxieties onto both. Curator: A thoughtful observation. Editor: A portrait of the material mind through art.