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The Human Face
Unusual philosophical study of the human face, illustrated. Partial Contents: The Contemplation of the Human Face; The Image of God; The Characteristics of the Image; Description of the Face; Front Face and Profile; Unity in the Human Face; Capability and Accomplishment; The Abundance of the Human Face; The Lode-Face; The Hierarchy of the Human Face; Star Faces and Earth Faces; much more. Translated from the German by Guy Endore.
221 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 1931
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June 22, 2009
a very strange philosophy of the countenance, generously illustrated with what i assume to be picard's favorite faces (hoelderlin, spinoza, pascal, etc.) there are some nice passages here-- the chapter on the "lode-face" is super creepy, and i like picard best when he's examining his raging caesar crush in questionable but enchanting cosmic terms:
"Caesar's face is a star face: it belongs almost completely to the vertical. Uncountable are the star-lines that fall over his face. The eyes are almost covered with them. The face stands before us as if beneath a rain of stars. Those vertical furrows are channels dug out by the rain of these star-lines. The earthiness in the face remains only as a few islands washed by a sea of stars... Earth torn apart into islands,--but torn apart by star-lines! Earth that has no room to move because star-lines are moving everywhere!"
however, there are also too many passages of redundant whining about the poor state of the human face in the 20th century-- and he never really explains his dissatisfaction; i guess he thinks it's self-explanitory. and he makes a lot of wild and disagreeable claims, like the baffling claim that american faces are slowly morphing into negroid faces because americans are looking at black faces too often.
fascinating, but not exactly recommendable
"Caesar's face is a star face: it belongs almost completely to the vertical. Uncountable are the star-lines that fall over his face. The eyes are almost covered with them. The face stands before us as if beneath a rain of stars. Those vertical furrows are channels dug out by the rain of these star-lines. The earthiness in the face remains only as a few islands washed by a sea of stars... Earth torn apart into islands,--but torn apart by star-lines! Earth that has no room to move because star-lines are moving everywhere!"
however, there are also too many passages of redundant whining about the poor state of the human face in the 20th century-- and he never really explains his dissatisfaction; i guess he thinks it's self-explanitory. and he makes a lot of wild and disagreeable claims, like the baffling claim that american faces are slowly morphing into negroid faces because americans are looking at black faces too often.
fascinating, but not exactly recommendable
Displaying 1 of 1 review