Honderd gelaatsexpressies 1891

This is a paper-bound book of unknown origin, titled ‘One Hundred Facial Expressions.’ Bound books themselves carry symbolic weight, representing a curated collection of knowledge. The very act of binding signifies an attempt to contain and order the fluidity of thought, to archive expressions in a way that transcends the ephemeral nature of lived experience. We can trace the impulse to capture fleeting expressions back through the centuries, like the famous character heads carved by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt. These attempts to archive and categorize facial expressions reveal a deep human desire to understand and control our emotional landscape. This recalls the ancient Greek concept of "pathos formula" – stylized gestures meant to evoke certain emotions. The symbolic act of capturing and categorizing human emotion in a book such as this demonstrates our desire to categorize and understand the human experience. This impulse, like the bound book itself, will continue to be reinvented across time.