Bellemans. Eugène (ou Michel). 23 ans, né à Gand (Belgique). Tailleur d'habits. Anarchiste. 9/3/94.
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
10.5 x 7 x 0.5 cm (4 1/8 x 2 3/4 x 3/16 in.) each
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Museum Purchase, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.375.32
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1894, pioneering forensic photographer Alphonse Bertillon this stark portrait of Eugène ( Michel) Bellemans, a 23-year-old tailor Ghent, Belgium, labeled simply as an "anarchiste." Part of Bertillon's groundbreaking anthropometric system, developed for the Paris Prefecture of Police, the image exemplifies early criminal identification photography. Taken amid France's turbulent "Age of Anarchist Outrages"—a wave of bombings and political violence—this small albumen silver print (10.5 x 7 cm) from a glass negative records Bellemans with clinical precision, frontally posed against a scaled bac...
About the Artist
Alphonse Bertillon · 1853–1914
Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) was a pioneering French photographer whose work revolutionized forensic documentation, transforming police identification into a precise visual science. Born in Paris on April 22, 1853, he was the son of medical professor and statistician Louis-Adolphe Bertillon and the younger brother of demographer Jacques Bertillon. Lacking formal higher education after expulsion ...