Moucheraud. Pierre, Yves. 27 ans, né à Paris IVe. Imprimeur. Anarchiste. 4/3/94.
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
2005.100.375.301
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant 1894 albumen silver print by Alphonse Bertillon captures Pierre Yves Mouchera, a 27-year-old printer and self-identified anarchist born in Paris's 4th arrondissement. Titled with meticulous detail—"Moucheraud., Yves. 27 ans, né à Paris IV. Imprimeur. Anarchiste. 4/3/94."—it exemplifies Bertillon's pioneering forensic photography, created as part of his bertillonage system for criminal identification. Amid France's turbulent fin-de-siècle era, marked by anarchist bombings and social unrest, such images documented suspects with clinical precision, blending science and surveillance....
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 ...