Tired of the endless series of black and white photos that were popular in the day, French banker Albert Kahn decided to do something about it. In 1909, he commissioned four photographers to take their cameras all around the world, and using Autochrome Lumière, to document in color what they saw.
One of the cities on the list was Paris, and in 1914, Leon Gimpel, Stephane Passet, Georges Chevalier, and Auguste Leon began their work. Their photos show us that the daily bustle of Paris life was much more colorful than we imagined, with storefronts painted bright red, or walls plastered with colorful photos.
More info: paris1914.com (h/t: petapixel)
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That's a really very nice photo. I love the colour in the ladies shawl and her flower wagon is so quaint too.
Today : https://www.google.fr/maps/@48.8839545,2.3323427,3a,75y,348.55h,101.93t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sQ-x1AGT4TSnOretKYRQXeg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1
The old Trocadéro palace, from the previous Exposition Universelle, seen in the background, replaced in 1937. What is interesting, is the byzantine archway around the first floor of Tour Eiffel, never noticed it before!
Port Saint-Denis if anyone was curious. Great area of Paris. Just north of the arch (pictured) is some of the best people watching in the world.
La statue de la Liberte et deriere son dos un potager! Ca c'est du voyage dans le temps!
Rue (street) Sainte Foy and Rue (street) d’Alexandrie, Paris 2nd district, in 1914.
100 years ago doesn't seem like that long ago until you see the clothes they are wearing.
Even the sky in France is different...no wonder the painters like to be there
Paris 16eme, 1er Mai 1920, Boulevard Exelsmans, Station Auteuil.
This is my favorite. You can actually see what color clothes they wore. No cars just a peaceful walk thru scenery.
The hotel is advertising that they have electricity. That's amazing...
look at the old Renault autobuses, ligne E, Madeleine-Bastille. So this must be Place de la Madeleine
This one is from the universal exposition of Paris of 1937. On the left the big building is the Nazi pavillion and on the right the building with a sculpture is the communist pavillion.
This kind of building is very common next to the ring road around Paris. They were built over the ruins of the old walls. This one is probably located at the 132 Boulevard des Maréchaux (it was completed with a simetrical one).
Paris looks gorgeous without cars... Walking by the Seine must have been so peaceful!
Fantastic! It's my Paris. It could be contemporary, Paris never changes; it is my favorite city. Neither time, nor Nazi, nor ISIS can change it, it is one of a kind, it is Paris. Paris I love you!
Thanks for sharing these photos with us. They were wonderful to view.
These are just colorored b/w images.... Id love to see the originals!
Amazing collection. There is a strange impression of piping through the passed when looking at these pictures. I knew some French autochromes already, but I am not tired of looking at them. There is another collection online also splendid and showing beautiful pictures from Eastern Europe, and Russia.
Wonderful! Looks contemporary, Paris never changes and always fascinates me; it is my favorite city! Neither sleet or storm, not Nazis, nor ISIS can destroy my Paris!
What is striking is the miserable conditions ordinary, working-class people lived in then. The big divide was between the bourgeois, warm, well fed, and comfortable, and the workers, living at the bottom of society. They all look poor, poorly fed, wearing tawdry clothes, The shops have shoddy windows and seem to offer shabby merchandise. The whole romantic atmosphere is generated by the American brain revisiting one of its visual myths. But living there, then, was a pitiful affair, as the French novels of Balzac, and others, describe more meticulously, obscure people living desperate lives. For nothing in the world would I ever wish to be relocated in that visionless, futureless life. Read the story of Modigliani and his model, their miserable lives, and miserable deaths, to get a more realistic feel for the times. The visual romanticism was only for the scenery, the decor, but the French play being acted on that background was marked by narrow-mindedness, poverty, and despair.
" Alongside the movement for mutual, private social insurance, legislators pushed state-sponsored social aid, which tended to nurture the principle of national solidarity. The law of 15 July 1893, instituted free medical assistance; the law of 9 April 1898, considerably facilitated the worker compensation claims; the law of 27 June 1904, created the service départemental d'aide sociale à l'enfance, a childbirth assistance program; and on 14 July 1905, an elderly and disabled persons assistance program was initiated. France also had, by the 1900s, the most extensive network of child welfare clinics and free or subsidized milk supplies in the world
Load More Replies...These photographs of Paris are wonderful. They were probably taken just pre-war. They are eerie and quaint. There are so few people! They are certainly not photo-shopped - it's century old film! Wonderful, just wonderful. Real life history!
Paris looks gorgeous without cars... Walking by the Seine must have been so peaceful!
Fantastic! It's my Paris. It could be contemporary, Paris never changes; it is my favorite city. Neither time, nor Nazi, nor ISIS can change it, it is one of a kind, it is Paris. Paris I love you!
Thanks for sharing these photos with us. They were wonderful to view.
These are just colorored b/w images.... Id love to see the originals!
Amazing collection. There is a strange impression of piping through the passed when looking at these pictures. I knew some French autochromes already, but I am not tired of looking at them. There is another collection online also splendid and showing beautiful pictures from Eastern Europe, and Russia.
Wonderful! Looks contemporary, Paris never changes and always fascinates me; it is my favorite city! Neither sleet or storm, not Nazis, nor ISIS can destroy my Paris!
What is striking is the miserable conditions ordinary, working-class people lived in then. The big divide was between the bourgeois, warm, well fed, and comfortable, and the workers, living at the bottom of society. They all look poor, poorly fed, wearing tawdry clothes, The shops have shoddy windows and seem to offer shabby merchandise. The whole romantic atmosphere is generated by the American brain revisiting one of its visual myths. But living there, then, was a pitiful affair, as the French novels of Balzac, and others, describe more meticulously, obscure people living desperate lives. For nothing in the world would I ever wish to be relocated in that visionless, futureless life. Read the story of Modigliani and his model, their miserable lives, and miserable deaths, to get a more realistic feel for the times. The visual romanticism was only for the scenery, the decor, but the French play being acted on that background was marked by narrow-mindedness, poverty, and despair.
" Alongside the movement for mutual, private social insurance, legislators pushed state-sponsored social aid, which tended to nurture the principle of national solidarity. The law of 15 July 1893, instituted free medical assistance; the law of 9 April 1898, considerably facilitated the worker compensation claims; the law of 27 June 1904, created the service départemental d'aide sociale à l'enfance, a childbirth assistance program; and on 14 July 1905, an elderly and disabled persons assistance program was initiated. France also had, by the 1900s, the most extensive network of child welfare clinics and free or subsidized milk supplies in the world
Load More Replies...These photographs of Paris are wonderful. They were probably taken just pre-war. They are eerie and quaint. There are so few people! They are certainly not photo-shopped - it's century old film! Wonderful, just wonderful. Real life history!