Exécution des otages, prison de la Roquette, le 24 mai 1871 1870 - 1871

Ernest Eugène Appert made this albumen silver print in France, probably shortly after the events it depicts. The image shows the execution of hostages at La Roquette prison, during the final days of the Paris Commune in May 1871. The Paris Commune was a radical socialist government that briefly ruled Paris. After the French army retook the city, there was a period of brutal repression. Appert made a series of photographs documenting the events of the Commune, but this one is particularly interesting because it's a fabrication. Appert was not present at the execution, and instead he restaged the scene in a studio, using models and painted backdrops. The photograph speaks to the politics of imagery in the period and the public role of art. Appert’s photograph served as propaganda for the anti-Commune forces. Historians can study photographs such as these alongside documents and other records to analyze the context in which art is produced and consumed. The meaning of art is contingent on these social and institutional contexts.