Face: A Visual Odyssey
By turns alarming and awe-inspiring, Face offers up an elaborately illustrated A to Z--from the didactic anthropometry of the late-nineteenth century to the selfie-obsessed zeitgeist of the twenty-first.
Jessica Helfand looks at the cultural significance of the face through a critical lens, both as social currency and as palimpsest of history. Investigating everything from historical mugshots to Instagram posts, she examines how the face has been perceived and represented over time; how it has been instrumentalized by others; and how we have reclaimed it for our own purposes. From vintage advertisements for a "nose adjuster" to contemporary artists who reconsider the visual construction of race, Face delivers an intimate yet kaleidoscopic adventure while posing universal questions about identity.
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Jessica Helfand's book reminds the reader that their face is a territory of both power and vulnerability. It is the first port of call to judge, categorise, diagnose, mock, shame, bully, legitimise, recognise, monitor. It can be doctored, discriminated against, adorned, hidden. 'Face' is as profound and complex as the theme it covers but it is also fun with its plethora of images, ideas and artworks.
--WE MAKE MONEY NOT ART.COM--Helfand's visual odyssey nudges readers to look and look again at the faces of world leaders, immigrants, popular figures--even at the face they see in the mirror--to discern what they might reveal.
--Shelf Awareness--Her ambitious history of facial representation delves into often conflicting aspects of recording, measuring, airbrushing, categorizing and otherwise judging faces. Considering tintype photography, digital selfies, mug shots, celebrity photoshoots, Polaroids and more, Helfand examines why and how humans capture their own faces and others', and the ways those images are used: analyzed, judged, manipulated, glorified.
--Shelf Awareness--Beautifully designed and smartly written, this book is an unique view of the visage as image and beyond.
--Steven Heller, Print--Helfand's interrogations are topical, thought-provoking, and often troubling. It is impossible to look away.
--Curbed--What does the mug shot have to do with the selfie? With faces everywhere in our image-obsessed society, self-photographed and otherwise, Helfand's historical and critical approach helpfully zooms out.
--New York Times Book Review--
