We are consumed with faces, so much so that we consume them constantly. Why call when you can Facetime? Trying to conjure the image of an old friend? Look them up on Facebook. The “selfie,” a new kind of portraiture, is one of the primary genres of our times. It’s also one of the main currencies in the marketplace that is social media. Indeed, our faces themselves have become a type of currency, as credit card companies begin to deploy facial recognition tools that enable—or perhaps “compel” is more accurate—customers to pay for their goods with the mere scan of a face. Surely, this sort of recognition, where our faces are objectified and used in manners that fall outside of our control, couldn’t have been what Allen Ginsberg was imagining when he asked in 1956, “When can I go into the supermarket and buy what I need with my...

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