Solier. Auguste. 18 ans, né le 3/3/75 à Cemery-la-Ville. Dessinateur. Anarchiste. 12/1/94.
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
2005.100.375.394
Tags
Art Historical Context
This poignant portrait, titled *Solier. Auguste.18 ans, né le 3/3/75 à Cemery-la-Ville. Dessinateur. Aniste. 12/1/94*, captures the young face of Auguste Solier, an 18-year-old draftsman labeled an "anarchiste" upon his arrest on January 12, 1894. Created by Alphonse Bertillon, pioneering French forensic photographer, it exemplifies the standardized mugshot format he developed in the 1880s known as *bertillonage*. These small albumen silver prints from glass negatives—measuring just 10.5 x 7 cm—were designed for criminal identification, featuring precise front and profile views against a scale...
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 ...