Paris 1923 - epicenter of art and progress

The author of these unique historical photographs is Jules Gervais-Courtellemont. He was born in 1863 in the suburbs of Paris, grew up in Algeria and traveled around the Middle East and North Africa, photographing everything he saw.

Gervais-Courtelmont was one of the first photographers to work with autochrome— the oldest process of color photography, which was patented by the Lumiere brothers in 1903. Autochrome used potato starch granules painted with red, green and blue paint as light filters, as well as a complex development process, resulting in ghostly "dot" color photographs.

In January 1923, Gervais-Courtelmont returned to his native Paris to shoot the main sights and views of the city, living through a period of economic growth and optimism after the end of the First World War.

View of Paris from the Church of Saint-Gervais

In a corner of old Paris

Tuileries Garden

Flower market near the Place Chatelet

Opera Garnier

Workers and horses on the river bank

Classic French gardens and ponds

Saint-Etienne-du-Mont Church

Men on the island of Sita

View of the Seine

Gardens near the Senate Building

The hotel of Madame de Lamballe, a friend of Marie Antoinette

Moulin Rouge Cabaret

Colonnade and pond in one of the gardens of Paris

The Moulin de la Galette windmill in Montmartre

View of the Seine

Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxeroi

Notre Dame Cathedral

Saint-Julien-le-Povre Street in old Paris

Gardens of a large estate

A street vendor on the banks of the Seine near Notre Dame Cathedral

The Grand Palace on the Champs-Elysees

A worker sleeps by the carts with cobblestones

Trocadero Gardens and Eiffel Tower

View of the Pantheon

Street life in front of a butcher shop

Museum of Decorative Arts in the Tuileries

Flower market on the embankment of Fleur

Saint-Denis Gate

Twilight over The Seine