Pelgrom. Elise (femme Schouppe). Deux photographies, dont une légendée: Reprod. faite 22/2/93.

Art Historical Context

In 1893, pioneering forensic photographer Alphonseillon captured *Pelgrom. Elise (femme Schouppe)* a pair of intimate portraits consisting of two albumen silver prints from glass negatives. just 10.5 x 7 cm each, these small-scale images—one labeled and reproduced on February 22—depict a woman with a direct gaze, exemplifying Bertillon's meticulous documentation style. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, they bridge fine art photography and scientific record-keeping. Bertillon, chief of the Identification Service at the Paris Prefecture of Police, revolutionized criminology with his "anthropometric system," or *bertillonnage*. This method combined precise bodily measurements with standardized mugshots—full-face and profile views—to create unique criminal dossiers, predating fingerprints. Elise Pelgrom, identified as "femme Schouppe," likely entered this system amid late-19th-century France's push for social order, where photography became a tool for surveillance and justice. The albumen process, prized for its rich tonal range and sharp detail, allowed Bertillon's images to serve dual purposes: evidentiary records and haunting portraits. These works highlight photography's shift from artistic portraiture to forensic science, offering visitors a glimpse into an era when the camera emerged as an impartial witness to human identity and crime.

About the Artist

Alphonse Bertillon · 1853–1914

Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) was a pioneering French photographer whose work revolutionized forensic documentation, transforming police identification into a precise visual science. Born in Paris on April 22, 1853, he was the son of medical professor and statistician Louis-Adolphe Bertillon and the younger brother of demographer Jacques Bertillon. Lacking formal higher education after expulsion ...