RECORD: Anon. 1873. [Review of Expression]. Art Journal, vol. 12, (January): 31.
REVISION HISTORY: Transcribed by Christine Chua and edited by John van Wyhe. 6.2021. RN1
[page] 31
THE EXPRESSION OF THE EMOTIONS IN MAN AND ANIMALS. BY CHARLES DARWIN, M.A., F.R.S., &c. With photographic and other illustrations. Published by John Murray.
If there is a class of individuals to whom the title of Mr. Darwin's book should serve as a recommendation, it certainly should be that class which comes under the generic term -artists; for what other has so much reason for studying emotional expression as the men, and women too, for whom the human figure is the very life of their art? To be able to master this phase, so to speak, of Art, whether on canvas or in marble, is to have reached onwards a long way to success in all else. And to pass from the higher to the lower orders of creation, what but this power has made Sir Edwin Landseer superior to every other known animal painter? Had he not been a diligent student of facial expression his pictures would have lost more than half of their value.
Though Mr. Darwin looks at his subject from a philosophical, rather than an artistic, point of view, we can commend its pages as pleasant and profitable reading to painters and sculptors.
With the author's peculiar views on the origin of man - and which he considers to be confirmed, "if confirmation were needed," by his investigations on the subject now brought forward –we have nothing to do: but setting all this aside, the whole gist of the volume is of a character that the artist will find of undeniable utility.
Citation: John van Wyhe, ed. 2002-. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online. (http://darwin-online.org.uk/)
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