Darwin discussed Duchenne’s work in correspondence with the psychiatrist and amateur photographer James Crichton-Browne who became another collaborator to Expression.
In 1862, the French physiologist Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne published a photographically illustrated study of facial expression. By applying an electric current, Duchenne was able to mechanically produce expressions, and to sustain them long enough…
'I am, however, now rich in photographs, for I have found a photographer in London. Rejlander, who for years has had a passion for photographing all sorts of chance expressions exhibited on various occasions, especially by children, and taken…
Darwin met the Swedish photographer Oscar Rejlander, famous for his character studies, in 1871. Rejlander, who was based in London, went on to provide twenty of the images published in Expression, more than half the photographs in the book.
Engravings were more expensive to print than photographs: but animal expressions were more difficult to capture. The most famous of the artists Darwin engaged to illustrate Expression was Briton Riviere, an animal painter who in 1871 was working for…
In March 1871, Darwin also contacted the German-born painter and illustrator, Josef Wolf (1820–99), a specialist on animals who had arrived in London in 1848 and had already illustrated many natural history publications. Darwin had asked the Regent’s…
Murray’s must publish [Expression] tomorrow with only 4000 copies, because the plates for 3000 additional copies have not yet been delivered. The trade and public will be dissatisfied. It may be advisable to get police to defend the house.