Sketch for ‘Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy’ 1828

Curator: This is John Varley's "Sketch for 'Treatise on Zodiacal Physiognomy'" housed here at the Tate. Varley, born in 1778, was deeply involved in the spiritualism and occultism of his era. Editor: It gives me the shivers. All those disembodied heads, so precise yet floaty, like ghosts of personality! Curator: Indeed. Physiognomy, the assessment of character from facial features, enjoyed a surge of popularity then. Varley saw it aligning with astrological beliefs. Editor: So each eyebrow angle corresponds to a star sign? Seems a bit deterministic, doesn't it? But then again, aren't we all stardust anyway? Curator: Precisely! Varley's sketch illuminates the social hunger to categorize, to understand human nature through pseudoscience. Editor: Well, I still find it unsettling. But that's good art, isn't it? Something that keeps you thinking and, well, feeling a little off-kilter.