50 Oldest Color Photos Show How The World Looked 100 Years Ago
When you think of old photographs, you naturally think in terms of black and white, but as you can see from these stunning photographs from the turn of the 20th century, color photography has been around for a lot longer than you think.
Before 1907, if you wanted a color photograph then you (well, a professional colorist) basically had to color it in using different dyes and pigments, but two French brothers called Auguste and Louis Lumière changed all that with a game-changing process that they called the Autochrome Lumière. Using dyed grains of potato starch and light-sensitive emulsion, they were able to produce vibrant photographs without the need for additional colorization. Despite being difficult to manufacture and also somewhat expensive, the process was very popular among amateur photographers and one of the world’s first books of color photography was published using the Autochrome Lumière technique.
The brothers revolutionized the world of color photography until Kodak took things to a whole new level with the invention of Kodachrome film in 1935, a lighter and more convenient alternative that quickly made the Autochrome Lumière obsolete (although its popularity continued in France up until the 1950s). Kodachrome was also eventually overtaken by the rise of digital photography (Kodak stopped manufacturing Kodachrome in 2009), which is now by far the world’s most popular way to take pictures, but modern advances in photographic technology wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of early pioneers like Auguste and Louis Lumière. Scroll down for a collection of stunning century-old color photographs using their groundbreaking technique.
(h/t: boredpanda)
#1 Christina In Red, 1913
Image source: Mervyn O’Gorman
#2 Sisters Sitting In A Garden Tying Roses Together, 1911
Image source: Etheldreda Janet Laing
#3 Flower Street Vendor, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#4 Musing (Mrs. A. Van Besten), C. 1910
Image source: Alfonse Van Besten
#5 The Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#6 Daydreams, 1909
Image source: John Cimon Warburg
#7 Heinz And Eva On The Hillside, 1925
Image source: Friedrich Paneth
#8 Moulin Rouge, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#9 The Grenata Street Army, 1915
Image source: Léon Gimpel
#10 A Girl Holds A Doll Next To Soldiers’ Equipment In Reims, France, 1917
Image source: Fernand Cuville
#11 Young Girl Amidst Marguerites, C. 1912
Image source: Alfonse Van Besten
#12 Among The First Coloured Pictures Ever Taken By Louis Lumière, 1907
Image source: Mo
#13 Charlie Chaplin, 1918
Image source: Charles C. Zoller
#14 Woman Smoking Opium, 1915
Image source: Léon Busy
#15 Two Girls In Oriental Costume, 1908
Image source: Etheldreda Janet Laing
#16 Outdoor Market, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#17 Autochrome Of Mark Twain, 1908
Image source: Alvin Langdon Coburn
#18 Air Balloons, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#19 Van Besten Painting In His Garden, 1912
Image source: Alfonse Van Besten
#20 Two Girls On A Balcony, 1908
Image source: Etheldreda Laing
#21 Woman And Girl By A Brook, 1910
Image source: Charles Corbet
#22 Eva And Heinz On The Shore Of Lake Lucerne, Switzerland, C. 1927
Image source: Friedrich Adolf Paneth
#23 Family Portrait At Roannay, Belgium, 1913
Image source: Georges Gilon
#24 Christina In Red, 1913
Image source: Mervyn O’Gorman
#25 Apan (Young Samurai), 1912
Image source: Albert Kahn
#26 Sweden, Near Gagnef (Mother And Daughter In Traditional Clothes), 1910
Image source: Albert Kahn
#27 Mother Of Seven Making Fringes For Knitted Shawls, Galway, Ireland, 29 May 1913
Image source: Albert Kahn
#28 Bosnia-Herzegovina, Mostar, 1913
Image source: Albert Kahn
#29 Joan In Red Riding Hood Cape With Basket, 1907
Image source: John Cimon Warburg
#30 Lanchester 38hp Tourer, 1913
Image source: Unknown.
#31 An Autochrome Of Two Sisters, 1908
Image source: Etheldreda Laing
#32 Louis Lumière’s Daughter And Her Dolls, 1913
Image source: Mo
#33 Autochrome Of Else Paneth On A Camel, 1913
Image source: Friedrich Paneth
#34 Else Reading By The Nile, 1920
Image source: Friedrich Adolf Paneth
#35 Autochorme By Etheldreda Janet Laing, 1912
Image source: Etheldreda Janet Laing
#36 Japan, Kyoto, 1912
Image source: Albert Kahn
#37 Bosnia-Herzegovina, Sarajevo, 1912
Image source: Albert Kahn
#38 Gas Balloons, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#39 Metro, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#40 An Autochrome Of Etheldreda Janet Laing Daughter In A Garden, Holding A Brightly Coloured Bunch Of Pink Flowers, 1908
Image source: Etheldreda Janet Laing
#41 Porte Saint Denis, Paris, 1914
Image source: Albert Kahn
#42 The Neptune Fountain, Cheltenham, 1910
Image source: John Cimon Warburg
#43 Girl In A Garden With Hollyhocks, 1908
Image source: Etheldreda Laing
#44 Lunch Of A French Soldier In Front Of A Damaged Library, 1st April 1917
Image source: Paul Castelnau
#45 Egypt, Giza, 1913
Image source: Albert Kahn
#46 Mongolia, Near Ulaanbaatar (Buddhist Lama), 1913
Image source: Albert Kahn
#47 Mrs. Warburg, 1915
Image source: John Cimon Warburg
#48 Autochrome Of A Young Girl, 1910
Image source: Etheldreda Laing
#49 Market Stalls Outside An Egyptian Ruin, 1913
Image source: Friedrich Adolf Paneth
#50 Children By The Breakwater, 1908
Image source: John Cimon Warburg
Got wisdom to pour?
In #98, “La Tasse” is NOT the name of the café. A closer examination of the picture shows that the sign reads “10c la tasse” which in French simply means “10 centimes per cup”.
(Are there any gas stations named “$3 per gallon”? 😄)
The caption for #44 should refer to a bookstore rather than a library. The word “librarie” is an infamous “faux ami” (false friend) that often trips up novice translators.