I've been reading and writing about the accused/criminal body, seen as inherently dangerous and unsafe and distinct from the law-abiding body. Allan Sekula in his paper
The Body and the Archive October, Vol. 39 (Winter, 1986), pp. 3-64 (
http://www.jstor.org/stable/778312 ) explores the photographic documentation of prisoners, and the mid-nineteenth century interest in phrenology and physiognomy. Sekula writes that both phrenology and physiognomy "shared the belief that the surface of the body, and especially the face and head, bore the outward signs of inner character." (p.11). Relevant proponents of these fields included Johann Caspar Lavater and Franz Josef Gall. Photography and phrenology were eventually conjoined in 1846 when the American penal reformer and matron at Sing Sing, Eliza Farnham, sought portraits of the inmates and published
Rationale of Crime and its Appropriate Treatment, Being a Treatise on Criminal Jurisprudence Considered in Relation to Cerebral Organization, New York, Appleton 1846.
Sekula refers to other nineteenth century practitioners including Cesare Lombroso, his interest in anthropological criminology, and his theory that people were born criminal ... which led me to hunt for some of Lombroso's images online. Interestingly, I found the Museo Criminologico in Rome
http://www.museocriminologico.it/storia_6_uk.htm and in Turin:
http://www.museounito.it/lombroso/
Lombroso's theories remain controversial and, not surprisingly, my online search revealed hostilities towards the Turin Museum and its collection of human remains.
