Favre. Pierre, Maurice. 29 ans, né le 30/11/64. Ciseleur. Anarchiste. 15/3/94. 1894

This is a mugshot, made in France on March 15, 1894, by Alphonse Bertillon. It depicts Pierre Maurice Favre, a 29-year-old chiseler identified as an anarchist. Bertillon was a French police officer and biometrics researcher who applied anthropological techniques to law enforcement. His "speaking portrait," as he called it, was designed to identify repeat offenders. The institutional politics of surveillance is key to understanding this image. Photography provided the modern state with a powerful new tool of social control. The rise of photography coincided with the rise of mass politics. Anarchism, socialism, and other progressive movements challenged the status quo in Europe during this time. The authorities viewed anarchists with suspicion, as enemies of the state. Historians consult police archives, newspapers, and political pamphlets, to understand the relationship between art, technology, and social control in late 19th-century France. The power of the state relies on documenting and classifying its citizens.