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The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Colour Photographs from a Lost Age
 
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The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Colour Photographs from a Lost Age (Hardcover)

by David Okuefuna (Author)
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
RRP: £35.00
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Product details

  • Hardcover: 336 pages
  • Publisher: BBC Books (24 April 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 1846074584
  • ISBN-13: 978-1846074585
  • Product Dimensions: 23.9 x 23.6 x 4.1 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 10,755 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #35 in  Books > Art, Architecture & Photography > Photography > Subjects & Types

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Product Description

Product Description
In 1909 the millionaire French banker and philanthropist Albert Kahn embarked on an ambitious project to create a colour photographic record of, and for, the peoples of the world. As an idealist and an internationalist, Kahn believed that he could use the new Autochrome process, the world's first user-friendly, true-colour photographic system, to promote cross-cultural peace and understanding. Until recently, Kahn's huge collection of 72,000 Autochromes remained relatively unheard of. Now, a century after he launched his project, this book and the BBC TV series it accompanies are bringing these dazzling pictures to a mass audience for the first time and putting colour into what we tend to think of as an entirely monochrome age.Kahn sent photographers to more than 50 countries, often at crucial junctures in their history, when age-old cultures were on the brink of being changed for ever by war and the march of twentieth-century globalisation. They documented in true colour the collapse of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian empires, the last traditional Celtic villages in Ireland, and the soldiers of the First World War. They took the earliest known colour photographs in countries as far apart as Vietnam and Brazil, Mongolia and Norway, Benin and the United States. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash forced Kahn to bring his project to an end. He died in 1940, but left behind the most important collection of early colour photographs in the world.

About the Author
David Okuefuna is the executive producer of the BBC television series The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn. He has worked on numerous documentary series and single films for BBC4, including Racism: A History, The Story of Maths, Shepperton Babylon and The Waughs: Fathers and Sons, as well as the BBC2 comedy-drama The Private Life of Samuel Pepys. This is his first book.

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The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Colour Photographs from a Lost Age
96% buy the item featured on this page:
The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn: Colour Photographs from a Lost Age 4.8 out of 5 stars (6)
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The Genius of Photography 4.8 out of 5 stars (9)
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In England 5.0 out of 5 stars (4)
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The World in 1900: A Colour Portrait
1% buy
The World in 1900: A Colour Portrait
£17.47

 

Customer Reviews

6 Reviews
5 star:
 (5)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:    (0)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:    (0)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.8 out of 5 stars (6 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent window on history. Highly recommended, 21 Aug 2008
By Hooligween "Rowena the Red" (Kernow, Great Britain) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   
This heavyweight hardback is an absolute treasure. It reproduces a selection of colour photos from a personal archive which was started by Albert Kahn in 1909. The collection runs through the next twenty years until Kahn's finds ran out in 1931, and so records all aspects of life at the beginning of the 20th century.
Kahn, a millionaire banker, despatched a team of photographers around the world to capture the essence of many different cultures. He established a collection of over 72,000 photos -- many of them in colour, which was the ground-breaking technology of the time. This book gives an overview of the collection with some of the most fascinating / poignant images organised by location; Europe, The Americas, Balkans, Middle East, Indochina and Far East, with special sections for the First World War and Portraits plus essays on the man himself and how autochrome photography was used.

I adored the TV series which accompanied the book, and longed to see more of the images with a more detailed expert commentary (although it doesn't look as if the BBC are going to put it out on dvd -- shame!). This book fulfils that expectation, offering a simply massive selection of images accompanied by an explanation of when, where, who and what the heck is happening.
Some of the shots are completely everyday (like 'men moving furniture, Reims, 1917) or 'men cutting stone, Shenyang, 1913) but every shot reveals an array of information about the era and the people. Many photos show a time before an industrial revolution (where a monolithic stone is laboriously cut by hand, for instance), or highlight the horrors of the landscape of the First World War in France. There are some simply terrifying pictures taken from a soldier's viewpoint across the battlefield, and some wonderful shots of early submarines, airships and biplanes.

The book contains 368 photos in colour and runs to nearly 350 pages. It's a technical achievement in itself -- to have reproduced the slightly surreal colours of autochrome like this must have taken months of careful work. The text is ideal, too; succinct, informative and revealing.
Perfect gift for anyone who has an interest in 20th century history.
9/10
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, 31 Jul 2008
By Mr. R. Tarr "activehistory.co.uk" (Toulouse, France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a fantastic book. Richly illustrated, with just enough contextual information to make sense of each picture but not so much as to detract from the images themselves, which are the main feature. The ultimate "coffee table" book!
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars an excellent book, 29 May 2008
By Stringer "yard painter" (York, UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This is a beautiful book full of mesmerising pictures and worth every penny. It is a remarkable thought to think that these scenes are frozen from over almost 100 years. A wonderful book by Okuefuna
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars More than just another coffee table book
This is a lovely book of beautiful colour photos from the past, which I purchased after seeing the excellent BBC series. The sections on Japan are particularly interesting. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Tangotastic

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightened Albert Kahn
This magnificent publication celebrates with a precious documentaristic and ethnographic iconography the enlightened existence of Albert Kahn.
Published 3 months ago by Luciano Moresco

4.0 out of 5 stars Albert Khan visionary genius
The TV series was captivating and this book is a great companion piece!

I find the photographs ethereal, breathtaking and somehow not of this world... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Steven A. Leigh

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