Vuagniaux. Alfred. 41 ans, né à Vucheron (Suisse). Cordonnier. Anarchiste. 2/3/94.

Art Historical Context

In 1894, French forensic pioneer Alphonse Bertillon this stark portrait of Alfred Vuagn, a 41-year-old Swiss-born shoemaker labeled simply as an "Anarchiste." The, part of Bertillon's revolutionary anthropometric system, records Vuagniaux's mugshot on February 3rd amid France's turbulent fin-de-siècle era. Anarchist bombings and political unrest gripped Paris, making such identifications crucial for police archives. Bertillon's meticulous labeling—age, birthplace, profession—transformed criminal records from mere descriptions into visual dossiers. Printed as a small albumen silver print from a glass negative (10.5 x 7 cm), this photograph exemplifies 19th-century forensic photography's precision. Albumen, a protein derived from egg whites, yielded sharp, detailed images ideal for measurement and classification. Bertillon's frontal and profile views, standardized for identification, influenced global policing and paved the way for modern mugshots and fingerprints. Today, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Gilman Collection, this piece bridges art and science, revealing how photography documented societal fears. Vuagniaux's solemn gaze invites reflection on the humanity behind the label, highlighting photography's dual role as tool of control and window into history.

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 ...