Pennelier. Casimir. Arthur. 36 ans, né à Billeuse (Somme). Clerc d'huissier. Anarchiste. 16/3/94. 1894

Curator: Good morning. Today we're looking at a piece titled "Pennelier. Casimir. Arthur. 36 ans, né à Billeuse (Somme). Clerc d'huissier. Anarchiste. 16/3/94." It's a daguerreotype, a photograph, made by Alphonse Bertillon in 1894. It resides here at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: A very direct portrait! I'm struck by how somber it is. It has that hazy quality of early photography that lends it a ghostly aura. It feels like a preserved fragment of a forgotten world. Curator: Well, Bertillon was using photography very scientifically here. He developed a system of anthropometry to identify criminals. So these images are documents, meant to record physical characteristics precisely. Our man Casimir here was deemed an anarchist. Editor: Right, so this isn't art in the traditional sense. It’s a tool of the state. And that adds another layer of melancholy for me, because the label “anarchist” carried heavy, often unjust, implications. Who was he really? A political firebrand, or just someone who questioned authority? Curator: Exactly! He might have been a romantic revolutionary or simply misunderstood. We only know what the police saw in him. Still, there's something inherently human in that gaze. He looks directly at the viewer, a little wary maybe. Editor: His neatly trimmed beard and respectable attire clash with the loaded term "anarchist". It complicates the narrative. It makes me think about how labels are used to dehumanize people, especially during periods of political upheaval. Curator: That’s what I find compelling too! Despite the attempt to categorize and control, Casimir retains a sense of individual dignity. This portrait unintentionally offers a glimpse beyond the rigid definitions. A clash of humanity and system. Editor: Precisely! Even within the confines of such a system, a ghost of humanity endures. It's a silent rebellion etched in silver. Thanks for shedding light on that. Curator: Thanks to you for noticing. Perhaps this daguerreotype is, after all, something of a ghost itself: a record of an instant but now holding so much more.