20 Rare Color Photographs of France in the Early 20th Century Taken by Léon Gimpel

Perhaps the finest of all the autochromist has had the fewest words written about him. As noted earlier, Léon Gimpel (1878–1948) was the first autochromist to have one of his images published in color.

Gimpel was the instigator of the inauguration of the autochrome process held on June 10, 1907 in one of the rooms of the French newspaper L’lllustration. Gimpel produced many fine series in his long career with the autochrome. Perhaps the most superb images are the series he authored known as the Grenata Street Army.