Chatillon. Jean-Baptiste. 31 ans, né à Toiseron des Minard (Cher). Employé de commerce. Note du cabinet. 10/5/82 1882

Curator: This gelatin silver print, taken in 1882, is titled “Chatillon. Jean-Baptiste. 31 ans, né à Toiseron des Minard (Cher). Employé de commerce. Note du cabinet. 10/5/82.” The image is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and was produced by Alphonse Bertillon. Editor: Immediately, the sepia tones and rigid framing evoke a sense of constraint. The lighting flattens the subject's features. There’s a clinical detachment to it all. Curator: This image belongs to a series of portraits created using Bertillon's anthropometric identification system. These photographs, though seemingly objective, played a key role in constructing narratives of criminality and social deviance, particularly targeting marginalized communities in 19th-century France. The act of cataloging people based on physical attributes facilitated discriminatory practices within law enforcement and beyond. Editor: Yes, but there's also a remarkable attention to detail. Look at the subtle gradations in the background, the delicate textures in his clothing, the faint reflection in his eye. The photograph's materiality elevates it. Curator: But isn't the photograph's purpose crucial? It wasn’t created as a celebration of beauty, but as a tool for surveillance, for categorizing, and ultimately, controlling individuals deemed undesirable by the state. His youth, listed profession—everything about his life became subservient to that single moment of capture. Editor: Agreed. Yet, I am drawn to the geometrical relationships formed between the planes of the face, the neckline, the positioning of the handwritten numbers and signature along the lower portion. The structure dictates a controlled gaze. Curator: Looking closer, I think that’s a fallacy. To what extent was his identity—his inner self—being suppressed in order to achieve the parameters expected? The history of marginalised peoples isn't a history of objective portraiture. It's one of systematic oppression. Editor: It forces one to consider the objective of photographic portraiture itself: a tension of what’s revealed and concealed in those moments between subject and photographer. Curator: Bertillon's method reflects a societal inclination to categorize, judge, and exert power. It's a reflection on power and privilege. Editor: And yet, even in such a controlled environment, traces of individuality, humanity—a flicker of rebellion?—persist. Perhaps the formal constraints unintentionally revealed the underlying humanity the system sought to deny. Curator: Yes, perhaps by examining how Bertillon created this system, it can highlight ongoing dialogues concerning power and how systems impact individuals.