Percheron. Auguste. 56 ans, né à Poitier (Nièvre). Écrivain public. Anarchiste. 21/3/94.

Art Historical Context

In 1894, French forensic pioneer Alphonse Bertillon this stark portrait of Auguste Percher, a 56-year-old public writer from Poitiers the Nièvre region, labeled simply as an "anarchiste." Produced as an albumen silver print from a glass negative crisp, detailed medium favored for its clarity in the era—the image measures a compact 10.5 x 7 cm, typical of Bertillon's systematic criminal identification cards, or *portée judiciaire*. Bertillon, chief of the Paris Prefecture's Identification Service, revolutionized criminology with his anthropometric system, combining precise measurements, standardized full-face and profile views, and meticulous photography. This portrait exemplifies his technique: neutral background, even lighting, and frontal gaze that strips away personality to document the "criminal type," blending science and photography in a way that influenced modern forensics and police work worldwide. Beyond its utilitarian origins, the work holds cultural weight amid France's *Années folles* of anarchism, marked by bombings and social unrest in the 1890s. Today, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, it stands as both historical artifact and haunting artistic portrait, revealing the era's tensions between authority and dissent.

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 ...