In 1907, the Lumière Brothers unveiled their latest invention to the public. It was called the autochrome, the world's first practical system for taking true colour photographs. Flabbergasted by this amazing technological development, French financier Albert Kahn resolved to undertake what would become one of the most ambitious projects in the history of photography.
For the next two decades, Kahn spent much of his vast personal fortune on the creation of what he called "a photographic inventory of the planet as it is inhabited and managed by humanity at the beginning of the 20th century".
In this fascinating, five-part series, Edwardians In Colour chronicles the adventures of Kahn's photographers as they journeyed around the globe taking more than 72,000 colour autochromes.
Tonight's opener, A Vision Of The World, details the origins of the project with fascinating background to the invention of the autochrome system, and introduces the archive's creator, Albert Kahn. It also tells the story of two incredible journeys undertaken in 1913: one by Auguste Léon to London and Cornwall, the other by the project's only female photographer, Marguerite Mespoulet, who travelled along the west coast of Ireland.
Add a comment