116 Of The Oldest Color Photos Showing What The World Looked Like 100 Years Ago
When you think of old photos or historical pictures, you naturally think in terms of black and white, but as you can see from these stunning vintage photos from the turn of the 20th century, color pictures have been around for a lot longer than you think.
Before 1907, if you wanted a color photograph, you (well, a professional colorist) basically had to color it using different dyes and pigments. Still, two French brothers called Auguste and Louis Lumière revolutionized all that with a game-changing process that they called the Autochrome Lumière. Using dyed grains of potato starch and light-sensitive emulsion, they could produce color in vintage photography without the need for additional colorization. Despite being difficult to manufacture and somewhat expensive, the process was very popular among amateur photographers. As a result, one of the world's first books of color photography was published using the Autochrome Lumière technique.
The brothers revolutionized the world of color photography until Kodak took things to a whole new level with the invention of Kodachrome film in 1935, a lighter and more convenient alternative that quickly made the Autochrome Lumière obsolete (although its popularity continued in France up until the 1950s). Kodachrome was also eventually overtaken by the rise of digital photography (Kodak stopped manufacturing Kodachrome in 2009), which is now by far the world's most popular way to take pictures. Still, modern advances in photographic technology wouldn't have been possible without the hard work of early pioneers like Auguste and Louis Lumière. Scroll down for a collection of stunning historical photos in color using their groundbreaking technique.
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Christina In Red, 1913
Flower Street Vendor, Paris, 1914
Heinz And Eva On The Hillside, 1925
Sisters Sitting In A Garden Tying Roses Together, 1911
Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1914
Daydreams, 1909
Musing (Mrs. A. Van Besten), C. 1910
The Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1914
Wow! This photo is most remarkable for the shot of the old Trocadero palace, seen through the tower's arch! It hasn't been there for 80 years.
A Girl Holds A Doll Next To Soldiers' Equipment In Reims, France, 1917
The Grenata Street Army, 1915
Among The First Coloured Pictures Ever Taken By Louis Lumière, 1907
Two Girls On A Balcony, 1908
Young Girl Amidst Marguerites, C. 1912
Air Balloons, Paris, 1914
Charlie Chaplin, 1918
Autochrome Of Mark Twain, 1908
Christina In Red, 1913
Outdoor Market, Paris, 1914
There are still street markets like this in Paris if you know where to look. They aren't all that hard to find, either. If you see vans parked on the street that have spectacular graffiti all over them, there's a market nearby. The graffiti on the vans gets competitive and some of it is spectacular.
Woman Smoking Opium, 1915
Two Girls In Oriental Costume, 1908
Can people really stop with the appropriation, it's clothing !!! Should we stop eating food from different cultures or watch different
If they are wearing it to mock the culture, it's wrong. No question. If people from "non-white" cultures wear "white" clothing, is it appropriation? No one cares, it seems. No big deal. If "white" people wear "non-white" clothing, it's hated as "appropriation". Appropriation means theft. How does this make sense, when if it's reversed, it's not a big deal? The end result, if you look at it, is that everyone is encouraged to "be white". If you actually look at the history of cultural development, every culture has always borrowed from other cultures. People have always adopted styles from other cultures. This is how cultures develop. In actual fact, we are all just humans. "Cultural appropriation" is a lie that only deepens divisions between us. Mockery is wrong, but if someone loves the look of a different culture and they are respectful towards that culture, there is absolutely nothing wrong with it.
Load More Replies...Yes, it is called a costume, Basil Thunder. cos·tume noun noun: costume; plural noun: costumes ˈkäsˌt(y)o͞om/ 1. a set of clothes in a style typical of a particular country or historical period. "authentic Elizabethan costumes" synonyms:outfit, garments, (set of) clothes, ensemble; More dress, clothing, attire, garb, uniform, livery; informalgetup, gear, togs, threads; formalapparel; archaichabit, habiliments, raiment "each contestant wore a costume depicting her state" a set of clothes worn by an actor or other performer for a particular role or by someone attending a masquerade. "a nun's costume" a set of clothes, especially a woman's ensemble, for a particular occasion or purpose; an outfit. verb verb: costume; 3rd person present: costumes; past tense: costumed; past participle: costumed; gerund or present participle: costuming käsˈt(y)o͞om,ˈkäst(y)o͞om,ˈkästəm/ 1. dress (someone) in a particular set of clothes
Good grief, in Japan most people wear modern western type clothes and wear traditional clothes on formal occasions. If invited to a event in many cultures if you wear traditional clothes and or bring traditional food and drink you delight your hosts because you are being respectful and honoring their culture. It is when one uses another's cultures customs and or religious beliefs to pass yourself off to gain unearned respect and influence for personal profit that is not right. The whole appropriation issue has gone way out of bounds sadly because there has been so much of it.
And, reportedly this photo was “taken” c 1908. Edwardian era enjoyed a resurgence of appreciation of all things Japanese and/or Asian, which began shortly before the Mikado c 1885? This costume would be common even 20 years later. Take a look at the backgrounds of some Mary Cassatt paintings, the lilies, a Singer Sargent painting of a woman in kimono. It was very common.
Load More Replies...I s**t you not...I'm wearing a kimono wile reading these hilarious comments.
This photo was taken at a time when the white-world was being exposed to other cultures--yes, appropriation occurred--but it also was a gracious way of APPRECIATING different cultures. Today, appropriation means a disregard for other cultures' sovereignty, whether one thinks one is "honoring" it or degrading it. That is wrong. However, demanding that we stop eating food from other cultures, or watch programs featuring different cultures (assume by your name that you are from a "different-from-white-Judeo-Christian" culture) severely limits our ability to live peacefully in the same world. Salaam.
If say a Japanese man wanted to wear a kilt learn bagpipes and eat Hagus ( I'm Scottish) I'd find no offence in it,
In anime and manga, Western cultures are constantly "appropriated". I'm part German and am not offended by Attack on Titan, for example. Japan is by no means "vulnerable" - they are not impoverished, oppressed or erased - unless you're talking about the Ainu, so taking on aspects of Japanese culture is no different.
Load More Replies...The amount of r******d dipshits under this photo is staggering.
Programs? Why is it soo wrong to want to want to try different aspects of different cultures!!?
Commonly called a kimono. The rules for kimono are strict as they are considered formal wear. Can also be known as a yukata known as kitsuke, rules for wearing yukata are more relaxed. Young and unmarried wear colors often bright. Black is chosen for married women. The formal kimono, the tome-sode, is often edged in gold, heavily embroidered. Widows usually wear greys, browns or blacks.
Is it the same 2 girls as earlier? I think they're getting a bit fed up by now, but they must've valued these colour mementos when they were older, assuming they survived the upcoming Wars, Flu epidemic etc :/
I am so over this overly sensitive society we’ve stumbled into. You can rest assured knowing that now a days unless the people you’re talking about, parodying or poking fun at are white a lot of these people are going to s**t a brick. It’s the same premise as how a black comedian can and does often mock and do stereotypical impressions of white people and no one says a word but if the table was turned and a white comedian did an impression the world would come crashing down on their head. Equal is equal people and if someone thinks people in other countries didn’t dress up as American cowboys for example then they’re are as clueless as they sound.
Or the fact that they are little white girls dressed in Asian style clothing. So they are pretending, which means, they are in costum. When actors where a curtain wardrobe, they are in costume.
Have you never heard of Paul Poiret? His big 'thing' as a leading fashion designer of the era was Orientalism. It was considered very fashionable to follow this style, and it was mainly only people of high breeding could afford to. So, no they are not in 'costume' in the context in which you mean it, simply dedicated followers of fashion.
Load More Replies...this is interesting..if you wear a kimono or yukata and the folds look like a “y” youre doing it right. if you wear it the other way thats how the japanese would dress the dead. =/
Brian, they are probably pre teen or early teens. Same as teens today. They probably were posing for a portrait as a gift for the family. What teen wants to be fussed up and posed? They may have been affecting an expression for effect. ---pretty normal.
Load More Replies...its 2019,oriental is a very offensive term to asians.whoever wrote this article could have chosen a better term.
Go back to 1908 and explain to the photographer. Lol language changes over time.
Load More Replies...One of them has her kimono on wrong. That way is only worn by dead people.
The use of the word "costume", in this sense, just refers to a style of clothing, not a costume in the way we usually think of it today.
Load More Replies...Van Besten Painting In His Garden, 1912
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mostar, 1913
Eva And Heinz On The Shore Of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, C. 1927
Girl In A Garden With Hollyhocks, 1908
Sweden, Near Gagnef (Mother And Daughter In Traditional Clothes), 1910
Else Reading By The Nile, 1920
Woman And Girl By A Brook, 1910
Family Portrait At Roannay, Belgium, 1913
The Neptune Fountain, Cheltenham, 1910
An Autochrome Of Two Sisters, 1908
Apan (Young Samurai), 1912
Oh the changes he would have seen...to go from a society like the outfit he has on represents, to WW2 where he might have been an officer in his 40s, to the resurgence of Japan in the 70s (if he lived).
Autochrome Of Else Paneth On A Camel, 1913
Japan, Kyoto, 1912
The girl in the middle... for a split second I thought her obi belt was see through
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1912
Mother Of Seven Making Fringes For Knitted Shawls, Galway, Ireland, 29 May 1913
Louis Lumière's Daughter And Her Dolls, 1913
Lanchester 38hp Tourer, 1913
Porte Saint Denis, Paris, 1914
If you go to Google Maps and find the site, most if not all of the buildings are the same even the older looking house through the arch.
Joan In Red Riding Hood Cape With Basket, 1907
Autochrome Of A Young Girl, 1910
Girl With A Parasol Sitting On A Bench, 1908
Giant Oranges,paris, 1914
Very interesting. I thought they only did weird inflatable stuff recently!
Egypt, Giza, 1913
They were right : the old egyptians did remodel the head to a pharaoh's head and it was probably a lions head first. Compare the erosion of the body with that of the head.
Galway, Ireland 1 May 1913
An Autochrome Of Etheldreda Janet Laing Daughter In A Garden, Holding A Brightly Coloured Bunch Of Pink Flowers, 1908
Mongolia, Near Ulaanbaatar (Buddhist Lama), 1913
Traditional Irish Knitwear, An Spidéal, Galway, Ireland 1 May 1913 (Left), 14 Year Old Girl From The Claddagh Wearing Traditional Claddagh Dress. Galway, Ireland, 26th May 1913 (Right)
Lunch Of A French Soldier In Front Of A Damaged Library, 1st April 1917
Metro, Paris, 1914
Seems like maybe this photo might be later than 1914. My understanding is that the Adrian helmet was not introduced until 1915 (at least two of the soldiers in this photo seem to be wearing the helmets) and the all horizon blue colour seen here was not introduced until late 1914 (at the outbreak of the war French poilus were wearing red trousers, naturally this made them far too easy to see and contributed to heavier casualties)
Margate Beach, Blue Girl , 1915
The Family At The Lake, 1925
Hey, isn't this again our Eva and Heinz on vocation in the Alps? Not just some nameless "a family" ))
Palace Of Horticulture, Pan American Exposition, 1915
Highland Castle, Scotland, 1920
Mrs. Warburg, 1915
St. Mark's Cathedral, Venice, 1925
Market Stalls Outside An Egyptian Ruin, 1913
Children By The Breakwater, 1908
Galway, Ireland, 1913
India, Bombay (Sadus), 1913
Autochrome Of A Young Girl, 1910
Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1914
strange how this one is totally different from the other one from the Moulin Rouge from 1914... Look at the building left 19141578_1...8b9208.jpg
Flower Street Vendor, Paris, 1914
Peggy In The Garden, 1909
So beautiful. This reminds me of that beautiful Swedish painting of children with lanterns--the name of which escapes me (help anyone?)
The Younger Girl Stands Beside Her Sister Holding A Pink Parasol. The Older Girl Rests Her Bonnet On Her Lap, 1908
Stagecoaches At Ghent, 1912
Staithes Harbor, 1915
Two Fishermen And A Boy, An Spidéal, Galway, Ireland, 31 May 1913
My money is on this being a family portrait of three generations.
At The Entrance To The Pyramid Of Menkare, 1913
It looks like it could be a scene from an Agatha Christie mystery in the middle east.
A Rusty Buoy, 1908
Sphinx And Camel, 1913
One Legged Man, Paris, 1914
Lumiere Brothers. The Game Of Billiards, 1907
This one is framed very well. The most 'like a painting' one yet!
Galway, Ireland, 1913
Shepherd’s Boy, C. 1913
The Kiosk Of Philae, 1913
Oranges In Uhlený Trh (“coal Market Square”), Prague, 1910
Eva Poses After A Successful Hunt In Scotland, C. 1920
Senegalese Soldiers Serving In The French Army As Infantrymen Are Resting In A Room With Guns And Equipment Next To Them, 16th June 1917
Man With Book Sitting In Chair, 1915
"I am holding this book so that everyone will think I know exactly what I am talking about. I am really just sort of nervous while I wait for this wedding, funeral, or other boutonniere-requiring occasion to begin."
Horse, Paris, 1914
Eiffel Tower River View, Paris, 1914
Two Girls At The Gate, 1915
Cafe La Tasse, Paris, 1914
Autochrome Of A French Military Cemetery, 1916
Woman In Floral Silk Robe, 1915
The Temple Of Dor El-Medine, 1913
Italian Riviera, 1910
Drunk Man Sleeping On City Street, Paris, 1914
Woman Sitting In Library, 1915
Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar (Prisoner), 1913
Peggy Reading, 1909
Omg I have that book at home! It's a Mother Goose fairy tale book!! ❤❤❤
Girl With A Bucket, 1915
A Small Customer, 1915
Lady And Fruit Dish, 1920
She's probably sitting there wondering why in the world the photographer insisted on posing her with all this fruit in the backyard.
Autochrome Photo By Cdt Tournassoud, 1910
Austrian Jaegers! Makes my heart swell to recall that my great-grandfather left for America to dodge the imperial draft!
Washing And Bleaching, 1912
Autochrome Of French Soldiers Operating Machine Guns During The Second Battle Of The Aisne, 1917
The Last Digger, 1910
Warburg took a lot of shots on this particular beach. Note the cart-tracks. Got me wondering.
The Butcher's Shop, 1915
presently I am traveling in south asia, this 1915 meat shop is cleaner by far than any I see on the street here. looks like cow?
On The Sands, 1910
Again this is a mid twenties beach scene. The clothes and hats and hemlines are all wrong for 1915
Morocco, Benguerir, 1912
Civic And Military Garb, C. 1911
Three Men Playing Cards, 1915
Autochome Of A Street In Jerusalem By An Unknown Artist During The Early 20th Century
Karnak, Egypt, 1913
It just looked like some ramshackle doorway until I noticed the size of the person standing under it.
Newsvendor In Reims Streets, 1917
Autochrome Of A French Military Observation Post, 1917
Anything Freddie?... Nup. Pierre?...Nah...Pub for a quick wine a cheese platter? OUI!!!
A Woman With A Cart Filled With Milk Cans In Rue De Vesle And A Man With Another Cart In Rue De Talleyrand Behind Her. 3rd March 1917
Krusevac, Serbia (Market Scene), 1913
Two Nurses And Child Dressed As "Uncle Sam" In Wwi Support Parade, Pasadena California, 1917
The Orange Stall, 1908
A French Soldier Stands Next To A Table With German Shells And An Aircraft Propeller, Along The Western Front In Reims, 1917
Autochrome By An Unknown Artist Of The Italian Battleship Caio Duilio During The Early 20th Century
Two French Soldiers Assigned To A Telephone Station Are Washing Their Laundry In A Trough Of A Fountain, While Three Others Are Watching, 18th June 1917
Wait–if two guys are washing, where's the third watcher? I see the guy in the cave and the Sgt Shultz type guy...
French Soldiers Dig Through The Rubble Of A Destroyed Building In Reims, France, 1917
I remember being a kid and thinking that because all old photographs were black and white, the whole world looked that way. This helps put a much more realistic perspective on things way back when.
Yeah it's funny that the older you get you realize that actually since the beginning of time the way we all see now has always been the same.
Load More Replies...As a serious amateur photographer, I am enjoying this post more than any I have seen here for some time. We need more of these priceless pictures. :D
Google "Daguerrotype" and you'll find stuff from 1840-1860's
Load More Replies...Some of these I want to hang on my wall, others I want to paint, all beautiful!
Some of them might jave been coloured afterwords, but still they are very impressive and make the ancient times crazy well imaginable. Love it!
The early gardfen and countryside portaits of young women have the artistry of a Renoir or a Monet at times. They took great pains with slow equipment - quite delightful portraits of those times. Very skilfull early day photographers. Thank you
These are great photos....some look "historical" while others look like they could have been taken yesterday!
I absolutely love this. Fantastic job! In color there is so much to take in.
These images are quite beautiful, and remind one of the Impressionist movement in art. The impressionistic energy, or way of look8ng at life around them definitely was in the air. Thank you so much for sharing them.
There is a great book of Autochromes from WWI. 'The First World War in Colour' by Peter Walter, published by Taschen in 2014. ISBN 978-3-8365-5418-3. Well worth a look, if you can find it
I love the concept that each photo is a moment recorded in time. Never to be repeated. The colours were fantastic. Bright purple agapanthus, true to colour. My grandmother and her two sisters were employed in Adelaide, South Australia, as colourists in the very early 1900s.
Saw the Eiffel Tower in '73 while stationed in Germany and it is really big. Pictures don't do it justice.
My gradnfather was in France during WW I and would have seen much of Paris.
Taking these photographs required great artistry to counter the slow equipment of those days. The garden type portrits of young women in particular remind me of the artistry of Renoir and similar Impressionists. Quite delightful.
These photos make the era come alive. I can just imagine the conversations and the daily life of the people in these photos.
How lovely the world and our cities looked before we clogged everything with giant cars.
Interesting to see photographs (in color) that seem to copy art (oil paintings - Van Gogh Night Cafe pool table and Cezanne Card Players) that copied--or at least used--photos (monotone presumably) when they were done 10-15 years earlier!
For the record, the photo "Christina in Red" is incorrect in one notable way: It is a mirror-image of the original. (Find images of "Durdle Door, Dorset" and note that the beach is only on one side of the distinctive landmark. Thus you can deduce where the photo MUST have been taken. The ocean would be on the right, not the left.) I have notified the owners of the original. They have agreed with my discovery.
It's amazing how much more modern people look when you can see them in color.
Seeing these makes me think how easy we have it these days with digital cameras. A hundred years ago taking and producing colour pictures was such a difficult and expensive process. Even when I started working with colour printing in the darkroom, getting one good picture processed in a session was an achievement. Lucky these old pictures survive.
Thank you so much for not putting these in a detestable slide show! I love that they were all on one page.
I think the color process here is superior. The color seems totally satuated and emitting a softness remiscent of a fine oil painting.
Saw the Eiffel Tower in '73 while stationed in Germany and was amazed at how big it really is.
Beautiful, subtle and poetic. Worlds away from the din of modern day.
Although it's good to be able to look at a grainy old b&w photo and yet grasp the reality of its subject, I'll bet some really good things are to come with computer enhancement. I like explaining to younger people how we came from a world where everyone knew how to kill a chicken, pluck it and throw it in an oven and you had to eat vegetables because there were no antibiotics. People kept tabletops really tidy so they wouldn't knock over candles and oil lamps, etc.
Interesting that there are no images of adult men! Guess they were too busy working...
Eva in #23 and Family at the lake #49 appear to have been taken either the same day or around the same period but they are posted as being two years apart (1927 and 1925 respectively). Eva is wearing the same bathing suit and she and the boy look to be about the same age in both pictures. I wonder which year is correct.
OH! The Moulin Rouge was red. I ... that never occurred to me before. "Moulin Rouge" means "Red Mill".
É vergonhoso saber do nosso atraso tecnológico, na década de 60 ainda era de ddifícil acesso a esta tecnologia no Brasil
I remember being a kid and thinking that because all old photographs were black and white, the whole world looked that way. This helps put a much more realistic perspective on things way back when.
Yeah it's funny that the older you get you realize that actually since the beginning of time the way we all see now has always been the same.
Load More Replies...As a serious amateur photographer, I am enjoying this post more than any I have seen here for some time. We need more of these priceless pictures. :D
Google "Daguerrotype" and you'll find stuff from 1840-1860's
Load More Replies...Some of these I want to hang on my wall, others I want to paint, all beautiful!
Some of them might jave been coloured afterwords, but still they are very impressive and make the ancient times crazy well imaginable. Love it!
The early gardfen and countryside portaits of young women have the artistry of a Renoir or a Monet at times. They took great pains with slow equipment - quite delightful portraits of those times. Very skilfull early day photographers. Thank you
These are great photos....some look "historical" while others look like they could have been taken yesterday!
I absolutely love this. Fantastic job! In color there is so much to take in.
These images are quite beautiful, and remind one of the Impressionist movement in art. The impressionistic energy, or way of look8ng at life around them definitely was in the air. Thank you so much for sharing them.
There is a great book of Autochromes from WWI. 'The First World War in Colour' by Peter Walter, published by Taschen in 2014. ISBN 978-3-8365-5418-3. Well worth a look, if you can find it
I love the concept that each photo is a moment recorded in time. Never to be repeated. The colours were fantastic. Bright purple agapanthus, true to colour. My grandmother and her two sisters were employed in Adelaide, South Australia, as colourists in the very early 1900s.
Saw the Eiffel Tower in '73 while stationed in Germany and it is really big. Pictures don't do it justice.
My gradnfather was in France during WW I and would have seen much of Paris.
Taking these photographs required great artistry to counter the slow equipment of those days. The garden type portrits of young women in particular remind me of the artistry of Renoir and similar Impressionists. Quite delightful.
These photos make the era come alive. I can just imagine the conversations and the daily life of the people in these photos.
How lovely the world and our cities looked before we clogged everything with giant cars.
Interesting to see photographs (in color) that seem to copy art (oil paintings - Van Gogh Night Cafe pool table and Cezanne Card Players) that copied--or at least used--photos (monotone presumably) when they were done 10-15 years earlier!
For the record, the photo "Christina in Red" is incorrect in one notable way: It is a mirror-image of the original. (Find images of "Durdle Door, Dorset" and note that the beach is only on one side of the distinctive landmark. Thus you can deduce where the photo MUST have been taken. The ocean would be on the right, not the left.) I have notified the owners of the original. They have agreed with my discovery.
It's amazing how much more modern people look when you can see them in color.
Seeing these makes me think how easy we have it these days with digital cameras. A hundred years ago taking and producing colour pictures was such a difficult and expensive process. Even when I started working with colour printing in the darkroom, getting one good picture processed in a session was an achievement. Lucky these old pictures survive.
Thank you so much for not putting these in a detestable slide show! I love that they were all on one page.
I think the color process here is superior. The color seems totally satuated and emitting a softness remiscent of a fine oil painting.
Saw the Eiffel Tower in '73 while stationed in Germany and was amazed at how big it really is.
Beautiful, subtle and poetic. Worlds away from the din of modern day.
Although it's good to be able to look at a grainy old b&w photo and yet grasp the reality of its subject, I'll bet some really good things are to come with computer enhancement. I like explaining to younger people how we came from a world where everyone knew how to kill a chicken, pluck it and throw it in an oven and you had to eat vegetables because there were no antibiotics. People kept tabletops really tidy so they wouldn't knock over candles and oil lamps, etc.
Interesting that there are no images of adult men! Guess they were too busy working...
Eva in #23 and Family at the lake #49 appear to have been taken either the same day or around the same period but they are posted as being two years apart (1927 and 1925 respectively). Eva is wearing the same bathing suit and she and the boy look to be about the same age in both pictures. I wonder which year is correct.
OH! The Moulin Rouge was red. I ... that never occurred to me before. "Moulin Rouge" means "Red Mill".
É vergonhoso saber do nosso atraso tecnológico, na década de 60 ainda era de ddifícil acesso a esta tecnologia no Brasil