The autochrome, more formally known as the
Autochrome Lumière, was attributed to two brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière — French photographers also credited with the invention of early motion-picture equipment. Although other innovators had discovered ways to bring color to images through tint and screen processing, the autochrome, debuting in 1904, utilized a number of emulsion layers locking in natural color on a permanent glass negative.
We're always jolted when we encounter vivid color photographs from the decades that we have collectively consigned to monochromatic grays. Sometimes these colors derive from a colorized restoration; at other times, we discover a world of color in the bowels of an old camera, locked in the emulsion of slide film in a machine lost, abandoned or forgotten decades earlier.
And sometimes, with luck, we stumble upon scenes from a "pre-color" era captured with experimental color processes. The vibrant photos from World War I posted in this gallery are examples of this surprisingly variegated, many-hued world.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjkZYKlii55xC93Ul-Whfb-tH7GuCOirDrrQFV1gpZh-lWR0j4RAPV-oF6QCAgPbNb0YrUs8WUO8RUZWMiXxeIIS9AWR41A_n4klj59XB8A0W3IFH2T_UG3GfM8OKE6UmTOEvOhFGL2dll/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-1.jpg) |
A French soldier, circa 1915. (©Mark Jacobs Archive /The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj70_hTcPRAeGdBCCOT4H9en9P3og6PvGaWjg2A2SPP2d-I7wnbPR_b0qxUAf00_MDbAi7FoZTgbeDhUXfpZHD0D2nBkFp__i_iBD4LgwYiu_rHJGuxzJuU9tdYkKRHs2s0PXX1JQtd_gI8/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-2.jpg) |
View of Verdun after 8 months of bombing, September 1916. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEZe-_74NcOLfvq6q8B0yzQL7phpmNgG7zb4p2_mG0YtBZc8AxMZCbXWQ0xxrx8agBIxBLRm8jJ5Rz0W76CsA4qGDgSt5u7ITWxPfYSw45lQiqmX7eCeSN2bP1BNCQ20nUxgP2NhqtzcuA/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-3.jpg) |
French Gunners receive instruction, 1916. (©TopFoto / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgV69X7MKHQtFkrUB4vVX5C0-nqPo_jAR77IWaPXBiwnyViK27jkPQQQX2iaaAI2qDnzh96_O523GdDuj6MsI6Qp6rmD3j6h52m320HqbGrrqUa-rD_27_a_Bi1GDXAHnLE7viwuwVDQStl/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-4.jpg) |
The remains of a dead French soldier and his gun rest under a tree on the Western Front in France. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdzznKJovjxokVQUStahKeZiYA2IR32uft4WUS-oUR57c4u_OtmzSZRy1QJca2Htfs3pX65z6NQkhmbn3o3lReyIm-UvnLr_vxXIj1uQG0FQoEFAI4T13CmKfaI48wzOG1KpjSSzzPbM-s/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-5.jpg) |
French soldiers of the 370th Infantry Regiment eat soup during the battle of the Aisne in 1917. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1tVltoZdWDIOHiDDWK0AVcLKYpaDEVIDcTXMNZETbS3poNO2yYPQgPnTDUGHQBExfuEkim3yrOkWQRgOXJ9B21zLENMa3PnvOVGbaion3rMhLqAixJkH062pCZO4w6NU8DjNu80sdKGd/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-6.jpg) |
French Artillery soldiers are shown at the entrance of their shelter on the Western Front. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxnKjNhhpT1oE8cWHhtU7RTaflP7-nhu2PkMvZ5uNORxICAwKkO_HirQL2OyGaDpsC8TclMu2V6qo3s2kxp5NFoMU4kghrgn-T_J0Yi6Rbp2hHXb4Putgf9yiRJPr_CUCmoOst_g6tD56P/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-7.jpg) |
A French soldier with an acoustic listening device capable of tracking aircraft on the Western Front. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlFO0oOeDKbQOTXApS1dZPEUEBjV1b7Wm993grdwUJYIxFpVjrY1pvuOjYdVU9FwNIQv7hlQslzmggAdJyuwTTsnQj2-V_gn8naybphHL6VNcvF5BedGNo0Oa9XX70gip-lxtZep6u6NrJ/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-8.jpg) |
A French section of machine gunners take positions in the ruins during the battle of the Aisne in 1917. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrMC4YWwk-ol6vPxqIpi3P0YnBEyYRCGqR6PIYwU4mBorIKGr8Evh4qI6DwDlt6scyoMFFW4ypQeKZbbmHRxBQHmhpBxBZe6nXBHBDUiBVuSQU3_34mhyphenhyphenA_wml_sfZgxOvDsTVfTxSNXqz/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-9.jpg) |
A crater caused by the explosion of 19 mines placed underneath German positions near Messines in West Flanders by the British on June 7, 1917. A total of about 10,000 soldiers died, amongst them almost all of the 3rd Royal Bavarian Division. The blast was one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions of all times and was audible in Dublin and London. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY2jFkdJJcrzXKIdFHseFTAQjffmVPIrYXnxiqkNUtDFwQtPtdkoLSybuwIT7Gltm8iU2hLeyEVRxPxvBqoKMyX87KjNvkVN2FQvMx9jNFd6bbrAFvLReFqlr5wvwtP4LTIUBFyJpNLzkV/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-10.jpg) |
Nine French soldiers investigate a fatally injured horse on the Western Front. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHCkNt_t9Ju8XisUaszjUgUShendmfRuuaq5vTllk0-dH2a-F5Gd9p1jHEzl_5gPvk2k7qkkXqxbQBdluZVW31uWV11nthdMu0IsSskF5w64y6ySmKI66pxjRodAkcNxAtpU8bIkidDDx5/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-11.jpg) |
The corpse of a French soldier of the 99th infantry regiment, who was poisoned during a German gas attack on March 23, 1918 and died eight days later of pneumonia. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhip7_kl8CnkXWrxknaLHcCDL6LAog0aQ1Boe1ObqzivL7EEDM7ims5Msddrk6kgqRixeMVCwG43lluArpSAItwQmN_W5kJrtSFUiB38dyf29ksQxEMdSkfn353CZZIiSjTG32hkggzu4kk/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-12.jpg) |
The wreck of a German tank, which was destroyed during a battle on the Western Front. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5bDYu3TTmg1kliiHXS-sZp-0WsQwBIl5f6u1IWLg1igymDA4EI6NIMp_ltZeuoliVF5gxRh20xY0F1NcKhEj40G3Y56ZirODr5zvV_0vJKvgFnmL1HYl0CSGSz9o6WhFlxbHIabmbNOpG/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-13.jpg) |
A little girl plays with her doll in Reims, France in 1917. Two guns and a knapsack are next to her on the ground. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgZ3xF-qKScTxyaiGZduF_xt-pKys6Q3DlQX9E3Ie2x2WGBpriMK5hYEVh2vpTMQLdtTNzAVD_SbXsgyniRp72LcAU3QUS_uTRKImqNXPnjeBFusSL3DfU6qxw83EWcHH47FACZ3_V62UG/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-14.jpg) |
French officers of the 370th Infantry Regiment pose in the ruins after a German attack at the Chemin des Dames near Reims in 1917. They have a bicycle and the flag of the 370th Infantry Regiment. The region was one of the worst battle grounds on the Western Front during World War I. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN2yuWVRT7AgsC4EQE-Dd2vKLaYkZrrGsSvEjNlmgD-wGl0wKHgr5GF06RiEr4jxhp6DBhBLsQZ6up43KOLtNC52atTXbw3fxh6Iv97eTcL-L_t6y-O6mypA_4OvzphZhz4mRXiV3ddtHo/s640-rw/world-war-i-color-photos-15.jpg) |
A soldier in uniform with three medals stands next to a cannon in Paris in 1918. His left leg has been replaced by an artificial limb. (©R Schultz Collection / The Image Works) |
(via
Time.com)
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