This paper proposes a face recognition method using feature spaces and image vectors in the image plane. We obtain the 2-D feature space using the self-organizing map which has two inputs from the axis of the given image. The image vector consists of its weights and the average gray levels in the feature space. Also, we can reconstruct an normalized face by using the image vector having no connection with the size of the given face image. In the proposed method, each face is recognized with the best match of the feature spaces and the maximum match of the normally retrieval face images, respectively. For enhancing recognition rates, our method combines the two recognition methods by the feature spaces and the retrieval images. Simulations are conducted on the ORL(Olivetti Research laboratory) images of 40 persons, in which each person has 10 facial images, and the result shows 100% recognition and 14.5% rejection rates for the 20$ imes$20 feature sizes and the 24$ imes$28 retrieval image size.