Jenseits des physiognomischen Prinzips

The author traces the development of new uses of photography at
the end of the 19th century. At that time, the practice of
portraiture was dominant, based on the ideology or
'pseudo-science' of physiognomics which postulated a connection
between people's inner and outer characteristics, between body
and soul. Photographic portraiture tried to express character in
a metaphorical way. The author then describes three photographic
practices that did away with physiognomics, and which were all
developed in the 1880s. Albert Londe worked for Charcot in the
Salpêtrière photographing sick people, in order to make visible
the pathological changes in anatomy. Etienne-Jules Marey started
to use photography for his study of the physiology of movement.
Bodies were clothed in black, with metallic strips indicating
the direction of their limbs. Lastly, the author describes the
photographic work of Alphonse Bertillon at the Préfecture of
Paris. Contrary to the ordinary portraiture practice, police
photography of criminals was strictly regulated, but even that
was not enough to 'identify' fully: additional anthropometeric
figures were required. German translation of a French text
published in 'La Recherche Photographique', Nr. 1, Oct. 1986.