Mary Cowling

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The Artist As Anthropologist: The Representation of Type and Character in Victorian Art

Mary Cowling

Synopsis:
In the Victorian age, artist and public shared ideas about how particular human types should look, ideas supported by the new Science of Mankind, anthropology. All subscribed to physiognomy, the belief that facial and bodily features indicate specific mental and moral characteristics. For both artists and anthropologists, the modern, urban crowd provided abundant material for the observation and recording of the kind of physiognomical distinctions that were believed to indicate individual characteristics as well as racial heritage. This book investigates the processes involved in the conception and interpretation of human types in the painting and illustration of Victorian contemporary life, with special reference to the well-known paintings of W.P. Frith.

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Other editions: Hardcover - 2008, Softcover - 2008, Softcover - 2003, Softcover - 2000