Taken from the BBC-documentary series 'Edwardians In Colour The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn' episode 3 'Europe on the brink'
Pictures shown are taken by Albert Kahn’s photographers in Macedonia. The pictures are from 1912 and they are one of the first in the world taken in color. Please notice Macedonia written in French "MACEDOINE" on the left hand part of the pictures.
Albert Kahn, a banker and philanthropist from France (born at Marmoutier, Bas-Rhin, France on March 3, 1860, died at Boulogne-Billancourt, Seine, France on the night of November 14, 1940) was probably one of the world’s first to capture our history in colour.
It all began for him, when after a trip to Japan in 1909 he returned home with many photographs of his trip. He immediately began a project to collect a photographic record of the entire earth. He sent photographers to every corner of the world to capture moments in history that we can enjoy to this very day. They captured images using the first colour photography, autochrome plates, and early cinematography. Between 1909 and 1931 they collected a substantial record of the earth in 72,000 colour photographs. These form a unique historical record of 50 countries, known as "The Archives of the Planet".
His photographers began capturing life in France in 1914, just days before the outbreak of World War I, and by working together with the military, they captured the devastation of the war, and the struggle to continue everyday life amidst all the chaos.
Since 1986 the photographs have been collected into a museum at 14, Rue du Port, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, at the site of his garden. It is now a French national museum and includes four hectares of gardens, as well as the museum which houses his historic photographs and film.
This is an exceptional effort, which deserves to be appreciated, and when one can, to visit this museum and enjoy the delights (and of course horrors) of seeing moments in history captured on film.
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