Baumester. Augustin, Etienne. 49 ans, né le 16/1/45 à Paris VIe. Décorateur. Anarchiste. 2/7/94. 1894

This photograph, produced by Alphonse Bertillon, presents a man named Augustin Baumester, identified as a decorator and an anarchist. The stark, frontal pose echoes the tradition of portraiture. However, here, it is infused with a new purpose: criminal identification. Consider the unadorned setting. Baumester’s neutral expression is reminiscent of ancient Roman portrait busts, intended to convey virtue and civic duty. But here, the same visual language serves to strip away individuality, reducing the subject to a set of measurable characteristics. This is a fascinating twist! Bertillon's innovation, born of late 19th-century positivism, mirrors earlier attempts to classify and categorize human subjects, from physiognomy to phrenology. It reflects our ongoing human desire to understand, predict, and ultimately control the chaos of existence. This image, intended for control, paradoxically reveals the fragility of such systems. The eyes, windows to the soul, stare back, challenging the cold gaze of the beholder.