An Atlas of Facial Expression: An Account of Facial Expression for the Actor, Artist, and Writer Book

Stephen Rogers Peck's classic Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist has served for thirty-five years as the standard manual for students exploring the intricacies of the human form. In this new book, Peck has expanded and elaborated on the material in the last section of the earlier book to provide a detailed but succinct guide to the mysteries of facial expression. Illustrated with fifty pages of drawings depicting musculature and facial expressions and sixteen pages of photographs of heads sculptured in clay, the book will be an invaluable reference for artists, art students, actors, writers, physcians, and anyone interested in the art of relating emotion via the physiology of the face.
The book begins with a look at facial behavior in infancy—the child crying out in discomfort or pouting in displeasure—and then considers facial behavior in adult situations, analyzing the facialexpressions that convey animosity, alarm, suffering, and more. From the sardonic smile to the lustful leer, from woolgathering to screaming, from nausea to cold sweat, the book covers in nontechnical language, with wit and insight, the elements that go into conveying each human expression, noting the position of the eyebrows, mouth, jaw muscles, and nostrils. Like Peck's earlier book, An Atlas of Facial Expression is organized for ease of use, with illustrations well integrated with the text. It will be a treasured addition to the reference shelf.