Bertillon, Ravachol and the Explosive Potential of Police Portraiture. Issue 3 (2nd October 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Gürsel, Zeynep Devrim
• Is Part Of: History of photography. Volume 45:Issue 3/4(2021)
• Page Start: 245
• Page End: 263
• Publication Date: 2021-10-02
• Subjects: Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) -- Ravachol (François Claudius Koenigstein -- 1859–92) -- identification -- anthropometry -- anarchism -- portraits -- international policing -- propaganda of the deed; Photography -- History -- Periodicals; 770.905
• DOI: 10.1080/03087298.2021.2145708
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-7298

Abstract

Abstract : Alphonse Bertillon's system of identification has taken a place in the canon of photographic history ever since several key texts published in the 1980s demanded scholarly attention to repressive as well as honorific portraits. This article focuses on Bertillon's most spectacular accomplishment, which resulted in the worldwide adoption of his techniques: the 1892 arrest and identification of the famed anarchist Ravachol. Ravachol's identification became a highly publicised struggle over the image of both the state and the anarchist during the height of anarchism in Europe.