After Alvin Langdon Coburn attended training at Gertrude Käsebier’s New York City studio, his work was featured in the journal Camera Work. He got a warm reception, with only one piece of constructive feedback–namely, that his portraits lacked “the gift of characterization.”

The criticism stung and Coburn immediately set about improving. His 1915 portrait, Study of Miss R., was one of his efforts:

Archive.org

The woman in this photograph is Sarah Landon Rives.  Miss Rives lived in a historic plantation in Castle Hill, Virginia, and she hired Coburn to set up a darkroom for her.  He persuaded her to let him photograph her.

It’s an interesting picture for many reasons but I’m going to focus on one aspect.

When people are frightened or surprised, their eyes naturally widen to detect threats and take in as much information as they can about their immediate environment. For most people, the more white you see around their iris (the colored part of the eye), the more frightened they are. The white part of your eye is called the sclera.

Sclera show is a condition some people have that naturally shows more of the sclera at all times, as Miss Rives does.

In 1965, an author named George Ohsawa termed sclera show beneath the iris as yin sanpaku. He claimed it indicated “a grave state of physical and spiritual illness […] and an extraordinary susceptibility to disease, accidents and tragic death.” Ohsawa cited people who had yin sanpaku like Brigitte Bardot, J. Edgar Hoover, John F. Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Sid Caesar, Jackie Gleason, and Bette Davis. JFK met a tragic early death, but the others did not. Brigitte Bardot will turn 91 in September.

Jack La Rue, who starred in The Story of Temple Drake, is a very good example of yin sanpaku. It’s an intriguing look!

There’s another part of Ohsawa’s theory that seems more credible. He referred to sclera show above the iris, as “yang sanpaku.” This is far less common and Ohsawa said it indicated inner disturbance. We see yang sanpaku in Charles Manson’s 1968 mugshot.

Today scientists believe that sclera show, as least beneath the iris, is an indication that the person in question is likely to be near-sighted. Less fascinating but probably more accurate!