Lefebvre. Eugène, Anatole. 28 ans, né le 2/7/66 à St Pierre (Eure). Sculpteur sur bois. Anarchiste. 2/7/94. 1894

Curator: This photograph, titled "Lefebvre. Eugène, Anatole. 28 ans, né le 2/7/66 à St Pierre (Eure). Sculpteur sur bois. Anarchiste. 2/7/94," was created in 1894 by Alphonse Bertillon and currently resides at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Editor: My first reaction is the subject's eyes; there's such a potent mix of vulnerability and defiance in them. And the almost monotone palette emphasizes the raw quality of the image. Curator: Bertillon, as a French police officer and biometrics researcher, pioneered the "portrait parlé" system of identification. This photograph represents the institutional gaze, framing Lefebvre through the lenses of criminal classification. His profession—a wood sculptor—and his political leanings—anarchist—are noted with forensic precision. Editor: Exactly, there's an immediate tension between this individual, seemingly caught at a specific point of distress and their self-professed identity. In the image the disheveled jacket and unkempt hair almost speak louder than their expression as an anarchist wood sculptor. Curator: This image really challenges notions of identity. Is he defined by his artistry, his radical politics, or the state's perception of him? Bertillon's system sought to fix identity, but the portrait reveals a complex and perhaps ultimately unknowable person, don't you think? Editor: I agree entirely, there’s so much narrative packed in the subject's written background. We should think about anarchism as a form of liberation - in juxtaposition with photography employed as a tool for maintaining power and control. Lefebvre stands as a reminder that those seemingly opposed ideas may well clash. Curator: Lefebvre’s mugshot now, preserved in the Met collection, invites questions about social control, artistic identity, and the power dynamics of the late 19th century. Editor: An image that provokes so much thought after over a century. It asks us what remains beyond data.