The Anatomy of Crying

This life-size wax sculpture is designed as a multimedia teaching aid for head and neck anatomy instruction.

Carefully researched through hands-on dissection on Thiel cadavers and reference to multiple textbooks, the sculpture shows the configuration of the facial musculature during crying and includes additional structures such as a functional nasolacrimal duct, the lacrimal and parotid glands and the facial nerve.

The sculpture is primarily a study in facial expression. As crying calls upon a wide range of anatomical structures, it is ideally suited for demonstration purposes. The emotion invokes all of the facial muscles, creates strong expression lines, and provides the opportunity to study some of the facial glands such as the lacrimal gland, as well as bony structures such as the nasolacrimal duct.

Watch the process and manipulate the digital 3D model below, or on YouTube or Sketchfab.