Henri Manuel - BEFORE THE NOVEMBER 11 CELEBRATIONS

L’anniversario dell’Armistizio sarà celebrato,
con grande solennità in tutta la Francia.
Ecco operai che issano sul punto più alto dell’Arc de Triomphe una bandiera gigante che lo coprirà in parte.

PHOTO HENRI MANUEL PARIS — 8 NOVEMBRE 1937

PROVA SU CARTA
GUILLEMINOT

Indicazione Henri Manuel obbligatoria

AVANT LES FÊTES DU 11 NOVEMBRE

L’anniversaire de l’Armistice sera célébré,
avec éclat dans toute la France.
Voici des ouvriers hissant au sommet de l’
Arc de Triomphe un drapeau géant qui le cou-
vrira en partie.

PHOTO HENRI MANUEL PARIS — 8 NOVEMBRE 1937

ÉPREUVE SUR PAPIER
GUILLEMINOT

Mention Henri Manuel obligatoire

Henri Manuel (1874–1947)

Henri Manuel was a prominent French photographer whose career was closely associated with the artistic, political and cultural life of Paris during the first half of the twentieth century.

He was born on 24 April 1874 in Paris and died on 11 September 1947 in Neuilly-sur-Seine. (Musée d’Orsay)

In 1900, Manuel established a photographic studio in Paris together with his brother Gaston Manuel. The studio specialised primarily in portrait photography and soon became one of the important photographic establishments in the city. Manuel photographed numerous leading figures from the worlds of politics, literature, art, music and society, as well as artists in their studios. His subjects included prominent cultural personalities and members of the French political and artistic elite. (Musée d’Orsay)

Manuel’s work extended beyond portraiture. He produced photographs of art, architecture, fashion and current affairs, and his images were distributed through the press. In 1910, he established the Agence universelle de reportage Henri Manuel, providing photographs to newspapers and magazines. (Musée d’Orsay)

From 1914 to 1944, Henri Manuel worked as an official photographer of the French government, documenting important political and institutional subjects. His commissions also included extensive photographic documentation of hospitals, prisons and juvenile institutions. The Musée d’Orsay preserves several examples of his documentary work, including photographs made during the First World War. (Musée d’Orsay)

In the 1920s, Manuel’s studio became involved increasingly in fashion and commercial photography. In 1925, the business moved to 27 rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, where it expanded its activities. The studio worked for major Parisian fashion houses and publications, including names such as Chanel, Patou, Poiret and Lanvin. (Musée d’Orsay)

Henri Manuel was also connected with the avant-garde artistic milieu of Paris. His photographic work appeared in connection with important literary and artistic projects; notably, he contributed, alongside Man Ray and Jacques-André Boiffard, to the photographic illustrations for the first edition of André Breton’s Nadja in 1928. (Wikipedia)

His photographs are today held in major institutional collections, including the Musée d’Orsay, the Musée Carnavalet and the British Museum. The Musée d’Orsay’s collection includes portraits of artists and cultural figures such as Paul Landowski, Antoine Bourdelle, Reynaldo Hahn and Henri Martin. (Musée d’Orsay)

Much of Manuel’s enormous photographic archive was lost during the Second World War. According to historical sources, only a relatively small number of original photographic plates survived and were subsequently preserved in French cultural and heritage collections. (Wikipedia)

Today, Henri Manuel is recognised as an important figure in the history of French portrait, press and institutional photography, particularly for his extensive visual documentation of Parisian artistic, political and cultural life from the beginning of the twentieth century through the Second World War.