A face recognition apparatus and face recognition method perform face recognition of a face by comparing an image of the face to be identified with target images for identification. The face recognition apparatus includes an image input unit to receive an image of a face to be identified, a sub-image production unit to produce a plurality of sub-images of the input face image using a plurality of different face models, a storage unit to store a plurality of target images, and a face recognition unit to set the sub-images to observed nodes of a Markov network, to set the target images to hidden nodes of the Markov network, and to recognize the presence of a target image corresponding to the face images to be identified using a first relationship between the observed nodes and the hidden nodes and a second relationship between the hidden nodes.