The Face: A Cultural History Reviewed in The New Yorker
A New Yorker essay by an unnamed author reflects on the cultural history of the human face, prompted by a personal move to a mirrorless apartment. The piece traces the evolution of facial reflection from ancient polished metals to Venetian glass mirrors, the rise of portraiture, physiognomy, and modern facial recognition. It discusses philosophers Levinas and Wittgenstein, the history of cosmetics, and contemporary issues like Instagram face, Botox, and emoji. The essay reviews Fay Bound-Alberti's 'The Face: A Cultural History' and David Le Breton's 'Faces', and references artists, scientists, and historical figures including Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Kaspar Lavater, Paul Ekman, and Peter Hujar. It critiques the commodification and surveillance of faces today.
Key facts
- The essay is published in The New Yorker's July 6, 2026 issue.
- It reviews Fay Bound-Alberti's 'The Face: A Cultural History' (Grand Central) and David Le Breton's 'Faces' (Polity).
- The author moved to a mirrorless apartment in South London.
- Venetian glassmakers in the 16th century produced clearer mirrors using tin-and-mercury alloy.
- The Galerie des Glaces at Versailles has 367 mirrors stretching 80 yards.
- Apple reported 500 billion selfies taken by iPhone users in 2024.
- Paul Ekman's Facial Action Coding System identifies seven universal emotions.
- Amazon's Rekognition system claimed to detect seven emotions plus fear in 2019.
- Clearview AI scraped 10 billion social-media photos for facial recognition.
- An ITV survey found 1 in 5 Brits aged 18-25 had cosmetic tweakments in 2025.
Entities
Artists
- Leonardo da Vinci
- Johann Kaspar Lavater
- Henry Fuseli
- William Blake
- Peter Hujar
- Edwin Denby
- Vaslav Nijinsky
- Serge Diaghilev
- Serge Lifar
- Tamara Karsavina
- Harry Kessler
- Eugène Rimmel
- Pierre-François-Pascal Guerlain
- Napoleon III
- Empress Eugénie
- Clavicular
- Socrates
- Emmanuel Levinas
- Ludwig Wittgenstein
- T. S. Eliot
- Hans Belting
- Fay Bound-Alberti
- David Le Breton
- Paul Ekman
- Francis Galton
- Cesare Lombroso
- George Sand
- Honoré de Balzac
- Samuel Beckett
- Montaigne
- Diderot
- d'Alembert
- Hegel
- Sir Harold Gillies
- Ovid
- Pausanias
- Narcissus
- Esther
- Baudelaire
- Stravinsky
Institutions
- The New Yorker
- Grand Central Publishing
- Polity
- Apple
- Amazon
- Microsoft
- Clearview AI
- Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
- Scotland Yard
- TSA
- FBI
- CIA
- Pixar
- Fox
- ITV
- Ballets Russes
- University of Paris
- University of Naples
- U.S. Department of Defense
- Biometrics Commissioner (UK)
- Palace of Versailles
- Saint-Gobain glass workshop
Locations
- South London
- United Kingdom
- London
- Venice
- Murano
- Paris
- Palace of Versailles
- France
- Switzerland
- Greece
- Rome
- Egypt
- Chauvet-Pont d'Arc cave
- United States
- Naples
- Italy