Tableau synoptic des traits physionomiques: pour servir a l'étude du "portrait parlé" 1909

Alphonse Bertillon made this synoptic table for studying "speaking portraits" – whatever that may be – with photos and print on paper. It’s this weird, early attempt to systematize the human face. I’m drawn to the way Bertillon divides the face into grids, organizing features like noses, ears, and eyes into neat rows. It reminds me a little of Sol LeWitt’s modular structures, but with this uncanny, biological twist. Look at the ears, each one meticulously photographed and classified; it's both clinical and strangely intimate. The overall effect is unsettling. Is it science, art, or some weird hybrid? Like much great art, it resists easy categorization. It embraces ambiguity, suggesting that our attempts to pin things down are often more revealing of our own obsessions than of the things themselves.