In the early 1900s, Frenchman Albert Kahn was such a damn rich banker that he sent photographers around the world to shoot anything using the newly invented Autochrome method. The results, gathered from around 72,000 images and 183,000 meters of film, is a rich visual record of the world in the midst of major upheavals. The philanthropist in Kahn believed that his archive of the planet could foster multiculturalism and peace. He did badly during the depression but managed to leave behind a museum to house his precious Autochromes.
The idea of a such a huge project notwithstanding, the images themselves are great. In this time where everyone is used to a having a camera pointed at them, and the making of strong images is a cute pastiche at the least, or a deliberate, post-modern parody at the most, these old/lost world images are striking in their simplicity.
BBC made a documentary (with more of a historical slant) and came out a with a book, The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Color Photographs From A Lost Age. There’s another book out on the same thing, The Dawn of the Color Photography: Albert Kahn’s Archive of the Planet, and I still haven’t figured out how they are different. Honestly, I might just end up ordering both.
*Old colored photos give me an excuse to rip off a Cut Copy album title as my own.
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