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Education / Museum & history

An exploration of the human face

The face
through time.

We have measured it. Idealized it. Misunderstood it. Explore the objects and ideas that changed how we see the human face.

Enter the exhibition Explore the collection ↓

A modern human skull viewed obliquely, showing the face and jaw — Homo sapiens The human face, beneath the surface.
Photograph: Sklmsta · CC0

History · Anthropology · The science of seeing Explore the sources ↗

The collection

Follow your curiosity.

Take the complete tour ↗

Dürer’s four gridded studies of human head proportions

Art & measurement

Proportion & Beauty

When a way of drawing became a rule for seeing.

Explore Proportion Dreams ↗

Human skull specimen

Evolution & development

Across Deep Time

A face shaped by diet, development, and millions of years.

Explore the Deep-Time Face ↗

The Doryphoros, a marble sculpture associated with the classical canon of proportion

Perception & interpretation

The Eye of the Beholder

Seeing a face is one thing. Understanding a person is another.

Explore How We Read Faces ↗

Find your subject

There is more to the story.

Ideas through time

Proportion Dreams Reading the Face The Skull Wars The Deep-Time Face Faces Across the World The Shrinking Modern Face How We Read Faces The Machine Gaze

Look a little closer

The Enduring Chin The History of Physiognomy The Skull That Broke Race Science The Shrinking Face The Machine Gaze Questions patients ask The history of orthodontics Works cited