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Open today 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ⸱ Always free

Visit
Open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Admission is always free

6th and Constitution Ave NW
Washington, DC 20565

Only have an hour to spend?

We've got you covered.
Exhibitions & Events
Featured exhibition:

Little Beasts: Art, Wonder, and the Natural World
Now on view
Art & Artists
Artle

A refreshed experience for our puzzle game
Today's puzzle

Mécanisme de la Physionomie (The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression)

1862

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

Artist, French, 1806 - 1875

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This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

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Artwork overview

Medium

album cover
Credit Line

W. Bruce and Delaney H. Lundberg Fund, in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
Dimensions

overall: 41 × 29 × 5 cm (16 1/8 × 11 7/16 × 1 15/16 in.)
Accession

2015.52.1-32

Weeping, tears of pity (left); Relaxed face (right)

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne), Adrien Tournachon

1854

Scornful disgust (left); Scornful laughter (right)

Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

1854

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Guillaume-Benjamin-Amant Duchenne (de Boulogne)

1854

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Alphonse Bertillon, Paris; by descent to Pascal Vincent-Bertillon, Paris; NGA purchase (through Denis Canguilhem, Paris), 2015.

Associated Names

Vincent-Bertillon, Pascal

Inscriptions

center of album cover, in gold letterpress: Db. Duchenne (de Boulogne) / Mécanisme / de la / Physionomie / Album

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