History with its flickering lamp stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. ~Winston Churchill

14 July, 2013

Colour Photographs of Paris, 1939

Just in time for Bastille Day, fantastic colour photographs of Paris taken in July 1939, not even two months before the outbreak of World War Two. By William Vandivert, for LIFE. 

You'll notice the colours have survived better in some than others... without seeing what the actual objects are it's impossible to know, but I suspect some were taken on Kodachrome film (the ones with better colour--Kodachrome lasts better than any other colour film) and the others on a different film (though still a Kodak one-- in just one of the images, you can see text on the right labelling it as Kodak!). 


William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Advertising posters on the Rue de Courcelles. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Rooftops of the city. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

A street in Montmarte. Source




William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

An outdoor cafe in Place du Tertre. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

The Luxembourg Garden (incorrectly captioned as the Tuilieries garden in the LIFE archives-- thanks to a commentor for pointing this out!). Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

The mandatory Eiffel Tower. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Place de la Concorde. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

An outdoor flower market. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Stalls selling prints along the Seine. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

The Arc de Triomphe. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

The Seine and a building in the Île de la Cité. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

An outdoor flea market. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Place Vendome. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Book and print stalls along the Seine. Source



William Vandivert, LIFE © Time Inc.

Bastille Day parade. Happy Bastille Day! Source

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice pictures ! Always interesting to look at pictures of the past.

But I think, there are some mistakes in the image description. The image "Tuillerie garden" is in fact the "Luxembourg garden", beyond the Senat. The building in "The Seine and the Place du Châtelet" image is located in the "Île de la Cité".

Anna said...

I apologize for my late reply, but thank you so much for the corrections! I've unfortunately never been to Paris (yet!) and I took the captions directly from captions in the LIFE online archive. I'll update it right away!

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