On a nearby wall hangs "Totem Figure, " a facial relief carved in wood and painted by Cecil Skotnes, who in the 1950s and 1960s presided over a Johannesburg artists' salon called Polly Street that became a training ground for many of South Africa's most influential painters and sculptors.

WSJ: South Africa's Wits Art Museum to Open in Johannesburg

So I began to study their gestures and facial expressions consciously, in a deliberate and indeed panicked attempt to figure out what they were feeling, what their intent was, what they actually meant.

FORBES: How to Think About Body Language - Part 3