physiognomy fi zee aag nuh. meeGreek Language: physis = nature and gnomon = judge, interpreter.Study and judgement of a person's outer appearance, primarily the face, indicative of their personality/character.
"Polemon of Laodicea (near modern Denizli, south-west Turkey) was a wealthy Greek aristocrat and a key member of the intellectual movement known as the Second Sophistic. Among his works was the Physiognomy, a manual on how to tell character from appearance, thus enabling its readers to choose friends and avoid enemies on sight. Its formula of detailed instruction and personal reminiscence proved so successful that the book was re-edited in the fourth century by Adamantius in Greek, translated and adapted by an unknown Latin author of the same era, and translated in the early Middle Ages into Syriac and Arabic. The surviving versions of Adamantius, Anonymus Latinus, and the Leiden Arabic more than make up for the loss of the original." Text from Amazon book description.
"Polemon of Laodicea (near modern Denizli, south-west Turkey) was a wealthy Greek aristocrat and a key member of the intellectual movement known as the Second Sophistic. Among his works was the Physiognomy, a manual on how to tell character from appearance, thus enabling its readers to choose friends and avoid enemies on sight. Its formula of detailed instruction and personal reminiscence proved so successful that the book was re-edited in the fourth century by Adamantius in Greek, translated and adapted by an unknown Latin author of the same era, and translated in the early Middle Ages into Syriac and Arabic. The surviving versions of Adamantius, Anonymus Latinus, and the Leiden Arabic more than make up for the loss of the original." Text from Amazon book description.
Above images, and the text below, found on a current day website for plastic surgery.
Source link here.
The Proportions of Classic Beauty
"One such principle is that the perfect face can be divided into equal thirds. This is based on the mathematics of the golden proportion devised by the Greek mathematician Eudoxus and used since then in architecture and art. It was Pythagoras, another Greek mathematician, who determined that this formula also could be the basis for the portions of the human figure, and Leonardo da Vinci, some 2,000 years later, used this golden proportion to show that the face should be divided into three equal horizontal spaces. The famed artist showed how these spaces are further subdivided into spaces occupied by the facial features. Aesthetic balance is achieved when the facial features fall within these parameters. To determine the "thirds," use a photograph and divide your face into three sections by drawing horizontal lines through the forehead hairline, the brow, the base of the nose, and at the lower margin of the chin. On the ideal face, the three sections are equal."
Above image a sample of his work from 1810.
Enormously popular among Europeans. Goethe and Blake.
Lavater often expressed an obvious cultural bias in his readings of the morality of people from other countries. “Lavater idealizes the familiar and praises what he knows,” wrote one critic, “but finds ‘deficiencies’ in the faces of Africans, Laplanders, and Calmuck Tartars.”
Racial categories are dangerous. Used to divide people.
Tedx Talk from Clark Universtiy
Louis Agassiz, Swiss scientist.
Origins of species categorized by regions. Multiple origins.
Chart above 1855.
Theories fuel argument for slavery in United States. Different races genetically distinct and therefore slavery necessary.
Theories fuel argument for slavery in United States. Different races genetically distinct and therefore slavery necessary.
Source link:
https://collections.countway.harvard.edu/onview/exhibits/show/this-abominable-traffic/agassiz-and-polygenism
Petrus Camper, Dutch Anatomist.
Treatise on the Natural Difference of Features in Person's of Different Countries, 1775.
Measure intelligence and ability. The facial angle, invented by Petrus Camper in the 1770.
Treatise on the Natural Difference of Features in Person's of Different Countries, 1775.
Assigns facial angles to different races. Claims Europeans have facial angle closest to what he measured on Greco-Roman statues. Therefore, Europeans superior.
Skull comparisons of Caucasians, Negroes, and monkeys,
From Josiah Clark Nott, Types of Mankind (Philadelphia, 1854), a memorial volume for Dr. Samuel Morton. Source link here.
Greek God Apollo, 350-325 BC, marble. currently located Vatican City, 88 inches in height.
Re-discovered in the late 15th century.
Aesthetic perfection for western world.
Time Magazine, Monday, June 2, 1930, Article - Medicine: German Hygiene Museum. Linkhere.
"The transparencies of organs and bones fascinated visitors. Dr. Werner Spalteholz, professor of anatomy at the University of Leipzig, developed them. He treats the heart, for example, with a solution which hardens cavities, arteries, veins. Then he soaks the organ in reagents which change the flesh of the heart into a transparent jelly. The observer can see the hidden blood vessels intricately intertwined like the roots of a seaweed."
The Transparent Man
Jaipreet Virdi is a PhD candidate at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. Her blog discusses the Transparent Man. Link here.
Skull comparisons of Caucasians, Negroes, and monkeys,
From Josiah Clark Nott, Types of Mankind (Philadelphia, 1854), a memorial volume for Dr. Samuel Morton. Source link here.
Crania Americana book.
Image above is circa 1915.
After US Civil War ethnic landscape transformed.
Johnson-Reed Act of 1924.
Jim Crow laws 1876 - 1965.
After US Civil War ethnic landscape transformed.
Johnson-Reed Act of 1924.
Jim Crow laws 1876 - 1965.
White culture creates entertainment, Minstrel Shows.
Popular during slavery and after emancipation.
Mostly performed in black face.
Blacks are lazy, foolish and submissive.
Thomas Rice creates the character Jim Crow, 1828.
Thomas Rice
1808 - 1860, New York
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| Trail of Tears 1830 - 1850, United States Forcibly removed from Southeastern United States to West of Mississippi River. Dr. Samuel Morton, Crania Americana, book, 1839. The book portrayed American Indians as inherently violent and incapable of education due to their facial angle. Morton's book provided scientific justification for Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, which turned America's original inhabitants into refugees and led to genocide. |
Greek God Apollo, 350-325 BC, marble. currently located Vatican City, 88 inches in height.
Re-discovered in the late 15th century.
Aesthetic perfection for western world.
Time Magazine, Monday, June 2, 1930, Article - Medicine: German Hygiene Museum. Linkhere.
"The transparencies of organs and bones fascinated visitors. Dr. Werner Spalteholz, professor of anatomy at the University of Leipzig, developed them. He treats the heart, for example, with a solution which hardens cavities, arteries, veins. Then he soaks the organ in reagents which change the flesh of the heart into a transparent jelly. The observer can see the hidden blood vessels intricately intertwined like the roots of a seaweed."
Jaipreet Virdi is a PhD candidate at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto. Her blog discusses the Transparent Man. Link here.
Fitter Families Headquarters, 1924, Georgia
Family competing in small family class, Eastern States Exposition.
Above three images, source link below:
1920's, American Eugenics Society.
"Fitter Families for American Firesides"
American Museum of Natural History, founded 1869.
Entrance to Hall of Man.
Eugenics Society Meetings.
Link here to see the website for the American Museum of Natural History.
Sculpture by Emmanuel Frémiet, 1824 - 1910, French.
The idea that there was an “Aryan” race was proposed by certain 19th century writers and was taken up by Hitler and other proponents of racist ideology, but it has been generally rejected by scholars.
Link below to watch film clip.
Race is a concept without a generally agreed upon definition. Race has been documented as a concept developed in the 18th century to divide humans into groups often based on physical appearance, social, and cultural backgrounds. Race has been used historically to establish a social hierarchy and to enslave humans. Racial groups have no defined boundaries, but have a blurry and imprecise relationship with human genetic variation and population groups across the world. I like Professor Audrey Smedley's definition. She states, "Race is a culturally structured systematic way of looking at, perceiving, and interpreting reality."
Honore Daumier
Political Cartoon of Kind Louie Phillipe, 1831
Still from TV commercial for Personal Computer vs Mac Computer.
Ads launched in 2006.
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