AH 331 History of Photography Spring 2021 Compendium

Photography's Influence on The Concept of Positivism

Adrian Lynn
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The Body and the Archive by Allan Sekula describes the sentimental role photography plays in categorizing social groups apparent among communities across the globe. The technological abilities of photography witnessed through the Calotype, and the Daguerreotype has stirred up mixed emotions with its controversial role in threatening the high culture status of art. The Calotype introduced photographers to the efficient process of photo making, whereas the Daguerreotype initiated the trend of taking portraits. Not only does photography allow users to create multiple copies of a captured image, but it has also created a "premature fantasy of the triumph of a mass culture, a fantasy which reverberates with political foreboding."[1] Although photography has allowed artists to enhance their mastery by symbolizing their environment, it has also introduced new social deviance that will soon take place within Europe and spread throughout other emerging nations.[2] Through photography's advantage of taking portraits, governments and other entities keep track of the identities prevalent within their circle.

Before the invention of photography, portraits were obtained using portrait artists that could translate the subject's facial features onto a canvas. Portraiture dates back to the fertile crescent of Ancient Egypt and the middle ages, with its popularity peaking during the Renaissance.[3] However, this service was able to be utilized only by those of nobility and scholars at the time. In addition to portrait paintings, the emergence of portraiture based upon sculpted heads were particularly prevalent in Ancient Greek.[4] Nobles and intellectuals often used such portraiture to depict the physiognomy of their dominance and hierarchy upon others of the region.

Despite it being a craft accessible by a minority of people, the interpretation of such facial features was far from being accurate and varied among different styling cues used by artists. Such inaccuracy could not depict the physiognomy of those being painted from the impreciseness of their measurements translated onto whichever medium that is contingent upon.[5] With such deficiencies apparent among the traditional form of portraiture, artists soon innovated themselves in creating silhouette portraits. Introduced by physiognomist Johann Caspar Lavater, artists captured silhouette portraits by placing the subject behind the canvas with a source of illumination in the background.[6] The creation came through as a form of capturing the physiognomy of different facial types. However, instead, it became a trendy art sensation to the general public. Silhouette portraits gained popularity among US presidents and other notable figures of the western world in creating postage stamps and the infamous silhouette of Ludwig Van Beethoven in 1786 titled Organist at the Court of the Archbishop of Cologne by Joseph Neesen.[7] Like other forms of portraitures at the time, it was again predominately utilized by those with wealth as specialized silhouette artists were expensive to come by.

Although Silhouette Portraits has allowed artists to capture the subject's outward form, it lacked in making multiple copies of such portraits. However, such deficiency was fulfilled by creating the Physiognotrace by Gilles-Louis Chrétien that allowed the artist to make multiple prints. It is achieved through tracing against the silhouette of the subject with the use of a pencil-attached pantograph.[8] This innovation can be compared to the popularity of the Daguerreotype with the Silhouette Portrait and the Calotype to the Physiognotrace, with it having the success of making multiple copies.[9] Despite such innovation seen through the capturing of the physiognomy, it lacked in capturing the facial features in defining an individual's character and personality. Artists soon changed this imperfection with the creation of the camera obscura. Unlike Silhouette Portraits and the Physiognotrace, the camera obscura enables the artist to trace both the facial outline of the subject and the facial features simultaneously. This innovation has completely translated the definition of physiognomy as well as capturing the phrenology of the subject. As to many forms of portraiture at the time, the camera obscura was far from reach to the ordinary.

The accessibility has changed by developing the Daguerreotype and the Calotype, as it allowed portraiture to become available to many. Compared to earlier forms of portraiture, photography accurately depicts an accurate scale of the captured subject's facial features. Such precision through photography convinced Victorian scientists to become confident in the accuracy and truthfulness of photographic images as inaccuracies from earlier technologies were no longer prevalent with this new invention. Concurrently, the accessibility of the camera has enabled higher governments to get track of those in the communities for identification and verification purposes cheaply and efficiently.[10]

The technology derived from photography has "establish and delimit the terrain of the other, to define both the generalized look - the typology - and the contingent instance of deviance and social pathology."[11] It has created a discriminatory stereotype to be become enacted upon the facial features rather than the individual's character. According to Sekula, Lavater claimed it has been argued that one can judge a person's character through physiognomic elements such as the forehead, eyes, ears, nose, and chin.[12] The documented photographs of such criminals have paved a study on the acts they committed to their appearance subjected to the concept of Positivism. In addition to judging character with the use of facial features, it is proposed by Franz Josef Gall that through the study of phrenology, the topography of the skull exhibits the mental capabilities that a person possesses.[13] With increased photographic documentation gathered through jurisdictions, sample portraits were used further to pursue the relation of moral character and physical appearance.

Evident through Allan Sekula, The Body, and the Achieves, the author addresses the concept of "The Other," which defines those with different physical appearances that fall within the realms of social categorization, repression, and criminalization. The photographic technology accessible at the time was segregated against those defined as "moral exemplars" from "delinquents."[14] It was solely based on the appearance and their past crimes of these individuals despite having minimal proof of their character. Medical professionals used comparisons between photographic documentation of those kept by medical institutions and police jurisdictions to associate with those diagnosed with an illness and mental instability to conclude the occurrence of such behavior.[15] However, it questions under what assumption doctors may interpret someone as mentally unstable without any references to claim upon. Revolutionized by Alphonse Bertillon and Francis Galton for the Paris police, the rise of photo documentation has allowed individuals to be identified through "photographic portraiture, anthropometric description, and highly standardized and abbreviated written notes on a single card."[16] Such documentation is organized through a statistically organized system which is soon perfected by Belgian astronomer and statistician Adolphe Quetelet. Quetelet's system further expanded the documentation of photographs through "statistical regularities in rates of birth, death, and crime,"[17] enabling industries such as life insurance companies and hospitals to draw abnormalities seen within patients.[18] Patients are diagnosed with distinct illnesses referencing from the documented evidence of past "anomalies."

From the compilation of photographic evidence, Quetelet sets a figure of "moral anatomy" represented through an asymmetrical binominal curve defining the distribution based on social health and stability.[19] These principles identify the standards of the "average man" allocating along with the mean of the distribution; however, they are considered abnormal if fallen within the outliers of the distribution. The distribution also factors in the individual's appearance, which may be subjective and mainly ruled upon differences in ethnicity. Quetelet's symmetrical binominal curve further pushes the implementation of Positivism achieved through the early use of the photograph and the study of human physiognomy. The widespread success of photography has allowed governments to construct social rules based upon individuals' documentation in greater detail, defining their appearance in their character's judgment. Such cases can be evident through the Metropolitan Police Acts of 1829 and 1839, in which jurisdictions across England documented prisoners' identification through photography[20]. From this documentation, the prisoners are further categorized upon their appearance and crimes that they have committed. Through the reliance on photographic evidence of the prisoners, the study of human physiognomy is used to hypothesize the relation between each offense and the convict's facial appearance.[21]

Comparing Alphonse Bertillon's anthropometric photos with Francis Galton's composite portraits, both include photographs of those being charged; however, they differ significantly in how each describes the convict. Bertillon's anthropometric photos illustrate the physiognomic features providing detailed measurements of each facial characterization. As seen through the Bertillon Card of the San Diego Police Department from 1913 by examiner Gabrielson, it gives the age, occupation, and place of origin and the phrenology and body measurements of the pictured individual.[22] However, as seen through Galton's composite portraits, it provides different positions of the side profile and multiple copies of the pictured individual's frontal view. Unlike Bertillon's anthropometric photos, there is little to no description of the subject's identification and is labeled in terms of components. However, they are described by their name and the crime they are convicted of, as witnessed through Francis Galton's Criminal Composites of 1878.[23] Unless the viewer has a background understanding of the issue in a Galton composite, much information cannot be drawn about the subjects compared to viewing a Bertillon Card.

It is mentioned by Allan Sekula that, "The projects of Bertillon and Galton constitute two methodological poles of the positivist attempts to define and regulate social deviance."[24] The Bertillon Card implementation was defined to individuate people to categorize such persons within each demographic. It also kept a detailed description of each individual for Police jurisdictions to document to regulate social deviance. However, the concept of individuality was not present within Galton's composites as it groups a specific pool from the demographic. A group of people is pictured together upon the crime they have committed. Although the two projects may differentiate in documenting people, both constitute the primary approach of implementing Positivism to achieve demographic regulation further. Bertillon's and Galton's two methodological poles have comprised a specific pool to segregate individuals based upon their moral character. [25]

Comparing to today's practice of photography using the content of Allan Sekula's, The Body and the Achieve, it remarkable to see how the creation of this technology has dramatically shaped the present culture. Such as which includes having a LinkedIn profile picture to increase the percentile of getting a job and the usage of cameras every time one passes through the Department of Homeland Security. Through the concepts Sekula has introduced within her paper, photographic documentation has become a widespread phenomenon used regularly. It is apparent that portraits not including by limited to driver licenses, passports, and university IDs constituted as the most significant indication for identification. With the growing implementation of Artificial Intelligence, portraiture will be at its peak in surveying and controlling people to regulate social deviance.
 
 
[1] Allan Sekula, "The Body and the Archive," October 39, (Winter, 1986): 4. https://www.jstor.org/stable/778312
[2] Sekula, “The Body and the Archive,” 4.
[3] Dows Dunham, "Portraiture in Ancient Egypt," Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 41, no. 246 (1943): 68. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4170896.
[4] Dunham, “Portraiture in Ancient Egypt,” 72.
[5] Ibid., 71.
[6] Joan K Stemmler, "The Physiognomical Portraits of Johann Caspar Lavater," The Art Bulletin 75, no. 1 (1993): 153. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3045936
[7] Stemmler, "The Physiognomical Portraits of Johann Caspar Lavater," 164.
[8] Barbara B. Oberg, “Description of the Physiognotrace,” Princeton University Press (2012): 408. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0352-0002
[9] Oberg, “Description of the Physiognotrace,” 409.
[10] Allan Sekula, "The Body and the Archive," October 39, (Winter, 1986): 7. https://www.jstor.org/stable/778312
[11] Sekula, “The Body and the Archive,” 7.
[12] Sekula, “The Body and the Archive,” 11.
[13] Ibid., 11.
[14] Ibid., 10.
[15] Ibid., 21.
[16] Ibid., 18.
[17] Ibid., 19.
[18] Ibid., 20.
[19] Ibid., 22.
[20] Ibid., 4.
[21] Ibid., 48.
[22] Ibid., 35.
[23] Ibid., 49.
[24] Ibid., 19.
[25] Ibid., 19.
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Bibliography

Dunham, Dows. "Portraiture in Ancient Egypt." Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts 41, no. 246
                   (1943): 68-72. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4170896.

Oberg, Barbara B. “Description of the Physiognotrace,” Princeton University Press (2012): 408–
                    409. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0352-0002

Sekula, Allan. "The Body and the Archive." October 39, (Winter, 1986): 3-64.
                     https://www.jstor.org/stable/778312

Stemmler, Joan K. "The Physiognomical Portraits of Johann Caspar Lavater." The Art Bulletin
                     75, no. 1 (1993): 151-168. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3045936

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