Paris in Colour 1909-1937: Captured Using The Autochrome Lumière Process

Albert Kahn envisioned his Les Archives de la Planète (Archives of the Planet) as a comprehensive snapshot of the world, aiming to immortalise all aspects, practices, and methods of human activities destined for inevitable disappearance.

Commencing in 1909 and concluding in 1937, the Frenchman deployed photographers worldwide, armed with the revolutionary Autochrome Lumiere – the inaugural true colour photographic process developed by the Lumière brothers in 1903. With over 72,000 colour images captured, these remarkable pictures of Paris from 1914, taken by Leon Gimpel, Stephane Passet, Georges Chevalier, and Auguste Leon, stand as original colour photographs, with no artificial colouration.

If Autochrome is something you want to see more of, be sure to take a look at the images Antonin Personnaz captured of France’s Oise Valley between 1907 and 1914. They're like paintings! See them here