Colors of the past

27/01/2021

76 years ago
Every year, on the occasion of the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz Birkenau camp on January 27, 1945, the memory of the victims of the Shoah is celebrated every January 27.
Never forget.
pictures speak louder than words

21/01/2021

Discover one of my last work published on Daily Mail !
Paris as you've never seen it before: Colorized photos chart the City of Love's evolution through the industrial revolution, World War 1 and the WW2 N**i invasion

Ranging from 1856 to 1937, the pictures show France's capital as it went through a period of change and development, including the Industrial Revolution and the First World War.

21/01/2021

Tic-tac...toes, London - 1940

20th September 1940: Lieutenant R, Davies of the Bomb Disposal Unit stands on a 1200 pound time bomb to keep the point from the ground as members of his unit hoist it up from the grounds of the German Hospital on 26 Dlaston Lane, London .
the German bombardment of England caused nearly 43,000 civilian victims, destroyed or damaged nearly 2 million homes, 60% of which were in London. All bombs not exploding on impact, British troops had to dig up the bombs and then neutralize them. It took a lot of luck and poise to achieve this ... and it didn't all end well.
For the city of London alone, it suffered 71 raids, and received the equivalent of 18,291 tons of bombs
Photo by Hulton Archive

11/01/2021

Don't try at home, San Francisco-1919

A Studebaker Model EG Big Six Touring is placed on a sledge so that the mechanic can access the underside without lying down, but perilous sight are weight of 3175 lbs, Built in 1919 to 11,757 copies, it was sold between 1750 and 2000 $, the Torpedo bodywork allowed 7 people to take place on board. The vehicle was powered by a 6 cylinder, 60 horsepower engine, the car could reach 80 MPH.

Source : 6.5 x 8.5 inch glass negative from the Wyland Stanley collection of San Francisco historical memorabilia1.
© Shorpy

04/01/2021

St Paul is still standing - London, 1940

The blitz is a German word meaning « lightning », it corresponds to the intensive bombing operation of the United Kingdom to bring down morale of English people and government. It mainly affected London but also Coventry, Plymouth, Birmingham and Liverpool, and also the historic towns of Canterbury and Exeter and the seaside resort of Great Yarmouth. 41,000 to 43,000 civilians were killed and 90,000 to 150,000 injured according to official figures. Almost 3.75 million Britons evacuated London and major cities. However, this process used by the Third Reich which aimed to demoralize the British people did not work and did not prevent them from supporting the country's war effort.

Photograph: Saint Paul's Cathedral, London, during the bombing of the city on December 29, 1940 by the Luftwaffe and courageously photographed during the raid by Herbert Mason. This image will become a symbol of the Blitz. Original Black & White

23/12/2020

2020's Santa!

Merry Christmas everyone, keep safe and enjoy.

17/12/2020

East of Paris, Military Hospital - 1916

At the 5 Bis' military hospital, in Saint-Maurice (Seine), known today as the Esquirol Hospital, under the Bois de Vincennes and barely a few kilometers from the center of Paris, the wounded and amputees of the great war are treated but also hidden from the public eye. Indeed in order to keep the morale of the population and the troops, the war wounded are hidden so asn't to show the cruel and cold truth of the war in favor of a propagandist ideal: the French soldier, unscathed and victorious than nothing can't stop. Thus the Army's photographic reports on this dark side of the war are automatically censored and put aside.

After the end of the war, the wounded and amputees of war will receive prostheses created to fulfill a specific function in a job they will occupy. Thus, injured farmers will receive hand prostheses where scythe and spade can fit on it, the cordon-maker will received a "hammer" prosthesis, when the mechanic will receive a "hand" tool pliers, etc. The objective is clear, despite the misfortune of losing a limb, all veterans must work to rebuild France.

Photograph: a group of 6 french amputees soldiers pose with their doctor in the park of the 5 Bis Military Hospital on June 30th, 1916. The soldier on the extreme right, is the French soldier Gilliot, with both legs amputated who will be the subject of other photographs on amputations following war wounds.
Source: Images de la Défense / ECPAD (© Isidore AUBERT / ECPAD / Défense.), Photograph on glass plate, black and white negative, colorization: Jean-Marie Gillet for Colors of the Past.

14/12/2020

The Eiffel Tower and its Red Venetian coat. July 1888

If Gustave Eiffel had initially planned only 12 months of construction for the Eiffel Tower, called the “300-meter Tower” at that time, it would ultimately be necessary to count double! The construction phase began on January 28th, 1887 and ended in March 1889, just in time for the opening of the Universal Exhibition in Paris.
During construction the site will never have more than 250 workers at the same time, this figure so low for such a construction is explained by the fact that the construction elements are pre-painted and pre-assembled in the Eiffel workshops in Levallois-Perret (west parisian suburb). The construction of the parts and their assembly aren't the result of chance. Fifty engineers carried out 5,300 assembly or detail drawings over two years, and each of the 18,038 iron parts had its own descriptive drawing.

In September 1888, when the site was already well advanced and the second floor built, the workers went on strike contesting the working hours (9 hours in winter and 12 hours in summer), as well as their wages considered insufficient in view of at the risks taken. Gustave Eiffel argues that the risk is no different whether they work at an altitude of 200 meters or at 50, and although the workers are already better paid than the average of what was practiced in this sector at the At the time, he granted them a salary increase, while refusing to index it to the “risk variable according to height” factor requested by the workers. Three months later, a new strike broke out but this time, Eiffel stood up and refused any negotiation. If the workers argue a danger in the work they do, no fatal accident will occur during the site, with the exception of a worker who took his fiancée to the site on a Sunday, his day of rest, for him show him around the monument and amused himself by balancing on a steel joist to impress his sweet heart, but he lost his balance and was killed by falling.

From 1889 to 1930, the Eiffel Tower will be the tallest building on the planet.

Photograph: Construction of the Eiffel Tower, July 1888, Paris, image by Henri Roger for Agence Roger-Viollet. Original on glass plate negative, Black and White. Colorized by Jean-Marie Gillet for Colors of the Past.
On the left, the Palace of Fine Arts, on the right that of the Liberal Arts (destroyed in 1897). In the center, the Central Dome and the Gallery of Miscellaneous Industries and in the background the Galerie des Machines (destroyed in 1909).

Tour Eiffel

08/12/2020

Allied Tank Championship, Versailles - 1920

The "Tank Championship" or "Tanks allied Grand Prize " was a military competition between tanks on all-terrain courses at the Satory camp (Versailles, Yvelines, France). Two editions were carried out, the first on June 18th, 1920, the second on July 2nd, 1921. Bringing together mainly Renault FT light tanks, operating in teams of 3, it would seem that the term “international” and “allied” was due only to to a single Belgian tank team and without other foreign participation.
The primary goal of this competition is to demonstrate the superiority of the French tank, the Renault FT (commonly called the FT-17), designed in 1916 by the French companies Renault, SOMUA, Berliet and Delaunay-Belleville, the FT-17 is quickly recognized as the best light tank of the end of the First World War. To the point where the tank will be used by around thirty countries in the world between 1918 and 1949,

Photo: Crossing of a small ravine by two tanks under the gaze of two spectators at the Satory military camp in Versailles on June 18, 1920. Photo by the Rol Press Agency. Negative on glass, 18X13 cm
Source: Ile-de-France Regional Fund, National Library of France, Gallica. identifying : ark: / 12148 / btv1b53037483q

04/12/2020

WWI's youngest French soldier! Foreign Infantry Regiment, 1914

Jean Barratchard, born in Bayonne, was enlisted at 14 year old (and an half) in the 1st Regiment of the Foreign Legion at the end of October 1914. If little about his career is not really known, it is more likely that he was taken as a "boy scout", handyman within the regiment, and won the sympathy of the soldiers, he is entitled to his portrait in uniform!

But he will finally take a part in trench fight in the sector of Reims, where his regiment holds two lines of trenches between October 1914 and April 1915 and where the soldiers of the Foreign Legion will advance their lines of 1.5 km. They will be wounded during the battle of Prunay, South-East of Reims, when he is evacuated, the administration of the French Army becomes aware of his young age and he is quickly brought back to his parents.

In order to realize the size of Jean Barratchard, he is barely larger than his lebel rifle (1.3 meters), the bayonet "Rosalie" at his feet measures 80 cm.

Photo taken in the studios of Lucien Gourdin on 1914, original B&W on 12x17cm paper from a gelatin-silver glass plate negative.
Source: Departmental Archives of Gironde, Bordeaux (France), coast 37 Fi 39

30/11/2020

November 20, 1915 - Souain-Perthes-les-Hurlus (France)
a soldier read a plate on temporary wooden monument, for the memory of the attack on the Moulin de Souain which took place from March 7 to 9. The Moulin de Souain in Perthès-les-Hurlus marks the first battle of the Champagne Region, during these days of attacks, the French artillery will fire 5,000 shells per day, hundreds of French soldiers die during the assault of the German lines for few really concrete strategic results.

On March 10, 1915, at the Moulin de Souain, the 21st company of the 336th infantry regiment, severely affected by the fierce fighting in Perthes-lès-Hurlus, was ordered to try again to seize the enemy trenches. The soldiers refuse to go out, by order of the general : 4 corporal and 30 soldiers was executed by a french squad on March 17th, 1915,

Colorization: to respect the period of the photograph, an "autochrome" effect is made in order to represent the color as the photograph would have been if it had been taken in color. The Autochrome is an invention of the Lumière brothers at the beginning of the century which makes it possible to restore color thanks to potato starch (this is why the colored dots are visible).

Source: E.C.P.A.D. Ref -SPA 19 N 642

23/11/2020

France September 15th, 1918
French and American soldiers in front of stained glass dedicaced to the life of St Joan of Arch in Basilique du Bois Chenu near Domrémy-la-Pucelle (Vosges, France). Domrémy-la-Pucelle, few miles from this church was the birthplace to Joan of Arc (Jeanne d’Arc in french), in history the fight of Joan of Arc represents the resistance against the invader. These soldiers probably made a prayer or a wish in this place steeped in history so that the war against Germany finally ends after 4 years of combat. They will be heard because the fighting will stop a little less than two months later with the signing of the armistice on November 11, 1918.
Source : US Army Signal Corps, National Archive and Records Administration.