Asymmetrical facial expressions in portraits and hemispheric laterality: A literature review

Studies of facial asymmetry have revealed that the left and the right sides of the face differ in emotional attributes. This paper reviews many of these distinctions to determine how these asymmetries influence portrait paintings. It does so by relating research involving emotional expression to aes...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Laterality (Hove) 2009-11, Vol.14 (6), p.545-572
Main Authors: Powell, W. R., Schirillo, J. A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aesthetic judgements
Aesthetics
Affective hemispheric laterality
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Artists
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Emotions
Esthetics - psychology
Facial Asymmetry - psychology
Facial Expression
Facial expressions
Functional Laterality
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Laterality
Medicine in the Arts
Negative emotions
Physiognomy
Portraits
Portraits as Topic - psychology
Portraiture
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Visual Fields - physiology
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Summary:Studies of facial asymmetry have revealed that the left and the right sides of the face differ in emotional attributes. This paper reviews many of these distinctions to determine how these asymmetries influence portrait paintings. It does so by relating research involving emotional expression to aesthetic pleasantness in portraits. For example, facial expressions are often asymmetrical-the left side of the face is more emotionally expressive and more often connotes negative emotions than the right side. Interestingly, artists tend to expose more of their poser's left cheek than their right. This is significant, in that artists also portray more females than males with their left cheek exposed. Reasons for these psychological findings lead to explanations for the aesthetic leftward bias in portraiture.
ISSN:1357-650X
1464-0678
DOI:10.1080/13576500802680336