Table Of ContentTo Henry, Frieda, and Pamela
Copyright © 1990 Watson-Guptill Publications
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Watson-Guptill Publications,
an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group,
a Division of Random House Inc, New York
www.crownpublishing.com
www.watsonguptill.com
WATSON-GUPTILL and the WG and Horse designs are registered trademaks of Random House,
Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Faigin, Gary, 1950–
The artist’s complete guide to facial expression / Gary Faigin.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Includes index.
1. Facial expression in art. 2. Art—Technique. I. Title.
N7573.3.F35 1990
704.9’42—dc20 90-48379
eISBN: 978-0-307-78646-3
Senior Editor: Candace Raney
Associate Editor: Carl Rosen
Designer: Robert Fillie
Production Manager: Ellen Greene
Production Coordinator: Marybeth Tregarthen
Typographer: Trufont Typographers, Inc.
Distributed in the United Kingdom by Phaidon Press Ltd.,
Musterlin House, Jordan Hill Road, Oxford OX2 8DP
Illustration credit: itr.3—
Vasily Baksheyev, The Prose of Life;
1872; Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
v3.1
Acknowledgments
T
his book might have remained nothing more than a passing idea had it not been
for the initial encouragement of my erstwhile instructor and friend Robert Beverley
Hale. In more recent times, Carl Rosen and Candace Raney of Watson-Guptill did
more than perform their editing tasks with style and dispatch; they communicated
to the author an enthusiasm for the book no publishing contract can guarantee.
Johanna Bartelt shouldered the marathon task of obtaining reproduction rights
from museums and agencies around the globe; I will never again take the
illustrations in a picture book for granted. And rather than single out any one thing
to credit to Sallie Gouverneur and Pamela Belyea, I’ll just say that without their
various services over several years, this book would never have appeared.
The work of Dr. Paul Ekman was of crucial importance both in terms of
describing the expressions and analyzing the muscular actions that create them.
Other individuals whose help was much appreciated: Nick Ullet, Terry Brogan, and
the 13th St. Repertory Company, who provided acting services; the persons at the
United States Information Agency who helped contact museums and foreign
companies for picture rights; Richard Rudich, who was always available with a
“cold eye” and an encouraging word; Judy Wyer, who did valuable research;
Claudia Carlson, who reviewed parts of the manuscript; and Don Poynter, who,
together with my Art Students League Saturday class, helped in many ways. Others
who should be singled out include: Bill Ziegler; Rhoda Knight Kalt; Ray
Harryhausen; Elliot Gold�nger; Milton Newman; Patricia Belyea; Howard Buten;
Rosina Florio; Dr. Robert Bell; Kyle Wilton; Lee Lorenz; John Kohn of Pro Lab; Jill
Herbers; Phil Murphy; Scott Wilson; Arlene Smeal; Robin Weil; Elizabeth Valkenier;
Max and Ruth Soriano; Commander Jim Belyea; Claire Gutman; Charles Haselo�;
Howard Buten; Joel Kostman; Eli Levin; Marie-Genevieve Vandesande; Shoshanna
Weinberger; Janet Hulstrand; Stashu Smaka; Sybil Faigin; Edward Maisel; Ken
Aptekar; Joel Miskin; Laurel Rech; Alexandra Baltarzuk; ABC News; Borden
Company; Guinness Company; Stephen Rogers Peck; Kay Hazelip; and �nally, all
the friends, family members, and students who modeled for the illustrations.
Gary Faigin o�ers workshops and classes around the country. For further
information, please contact: The Academy of Realist Art, 5004 Sixth Avenue NW,
Seattle, WA 98107.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
INTRODUCTION
Part One
THE STRUCTURE OF THE HEAD
GOING BENEATH THE SURFACE
CONSTRUCTING THE FEATURES
Part Two
THE MUSCLES OF EXPRESSION
THE NATURE OF THE FACIAL MUSCLES
MUSCLES OF THE BROW AND EYE
THE MUSCLES OF THE MOUTH
Part Three
THE SIX BASIC EXPRESSIONS
EMOTION AND THE FACE
THE EXPRESSION OF SADNESS
THE EXPRESSION OF ANGER
THE EXPRESSION OF JOY
THE EXPRESSION OF FEAR
THE EXPRESSION OF DISGUST
THE EXPRESSION OF SURPRISE
CONCLUSION
EXPRESSIONS IN BRIEF
EXPRESSIONS OF PHYSICAL STATES
INDEX
CREDITS AND REFERENCES
INTRODUCTION
“Charles, I’ve had it with you and your goddam moods.”
T
here is no landscape that we know as well as the human face. The twenty-�ve-
odd square inches containing the features is the most intimately scrutinized piece
of territory in existence, examined constantly, and carefully, with far more than an
intellectual interest. Every detail of the nose, eyes, and mouth, every regularity in
proportion, every variation from one individual to the next, are matters about
which we are all authorities.
We’ve come to know the face so well because it’s so important to us; in fact, it’s
the center of our entire emotional life. From birth to death, the face links us to
friends, to family, to everyone meaningful to us. Few things are capable of moving
us as deeply as the face of a loved one; nothing interests us as much as looking at
that same face, in all its moods, in its evolution over time.
