While rummaging through a library stack, I stumbled upon a treasure trove titled “The Wonderful World of Albert Kahn”. The book houses roughly four hundred colour photographs, many taken before 1920, offering a vivid glimpse into a world we usually picture in monochrome. These incredible color images let us travel back to a lost age.
Incredible Color From a Lost Age
1 Mongolian Hunter
After the Qing Dynasty fell in 1911, Mongolia proclaimed its independence, only to be challenged by the fledgling Republic of China and later by a Russian anti‑Communist army. This picture was snapped just two years after Mongolia’s brief independence and six years before the Chinese and Russian invasions. The hunter, armed with wolf and fox traps, likely lived near the Russian frontier – a stark reminder of the region’s turbulent politics.
2 Kurdish Girls Carrying Water Jars
The Kurds span Iran, Syria, Turkey, and Iraq, yet they still lack a nation of their own. In 1920, the Allies promised an independent Kurdish homeland, a pledge that never materialised. Decades later, many of these girls’ descendants endured the horrors of Saddam Hussein’s genocide. The arrival of U.S. and allied troops helped halt that brutality, though the Kurdish quest for statehood endures.
3 Victim of Ethnic Cleansing
Captured shortly after the Second Balkan War, this image shows a young, well‑dressed man—likely Bulgarian—detained by Greek soldiers near a monastery on Mt Athos. While his ultimate fate is unknown, the photo illustrates the chaos that followed the Balkan conflicts, a region that has remained volatile ever since.
4 Algerian Family Preparing Couscous
This snapshot captures a family in Biskra, Algeria, busy preparing couscous—a staple across North Africa. The little boy sporting a red cap would be over a hundred years old today, if he somehow survived to the present.
5 Girls Eating Betel Nuts
Betel‑nut chewing is a cherished tradition throughout Vietnam and other Asian nations. While touted for dental health, the bright red stains on teeth and links to oral cancer tell a more complicated story. Nonetheless, this intimate moment of two village girls sharing the chew is a beautiful window into everyday life of the era.
6 Lunch During Wartime
Three years into the Great War, Allied forces still relied on bicycle messengers. Amid the danger of sabotage and shelling, this courier pauses for a simple meal of bread and tea—hard‑earned comfort on the front lines.
7 Children Playing Skittles
Even amid the devastation of WWI, the children of Reims found ways to play. These youngsters enjoy a game of skittles amid the shattered streets of a city repeatedly battered by German bombardment.
8 Rabindranath Tagore
In June 1921, literary giant Rabindranath Tagore posed amid Albert Kahn’s rose garden in Boulogne‑Billancourt, France. Though Tagore earned the 1913 Nobel Prize for poetry, his lectures left Western philosopher Bertrand Russell unimpressed, who later dismissed Tagore’s talk as “unmitigated rubbish.”
9 The Square of the Dead
Jemaa el‑Fnaa, the bustling heart of Marrakesh, teems with camel‑laden vendors, devout worshippers, and blurred figures suggesting motion. Captured on 18 June 1926, the photograph freezes a moment that still feels alive today.
10 Wounded Soldiers
This intimate WWI scene places you right beside the injured men as they converse with a nurse and sip wine. The vivid detail makes the tragedy palpable, urging viewers to seek out Albert Kahn’s full collection for a larger view.
11 Childhood
Shot inside a Verona church vault on 16 May 1918, this portrait required over a minute of exposure. The dappled sunlight creates a painterly effect reminiscent of Rembrandt, while the girl’s reflective gaze invites contemplation of her inner world.
12 A Young Soldier’s Corpse
Poet Wilfred Owen once wrote about the brutal anonymity of war deaths. This haunting image of a young soldier’s remains in Aisne echoes his verses, underscoring the profound loss of youthful lives.
13 A Soldier Buying Lunch from a Butcher
In pre‑refrigeration France, charcuteries supplied well‑preserved meats. This Reims shop, stocked with choices, shows a soldier on R&R enjoying a hearty lunch, even as makeshift barricades hint at the city’s wartime scars.
14 A Young Girl and Her Doll
Amid the Great War, this little girl toys with a doll while rifles lean against the wall. The stark contrast spotlights the dissonance between innocence and the grim realities of the battlefield.
15 Sadhus in British India
These austere sadhus, captured in Bombay (now Mumbai) on 17 December 1913, embody timeless spirituality. Their attire and demeanor remain virtually unchanged in modern images, linking past and present in a single frame.
16 Nomadic Prisoner
Mongolian nomads devised a justice system suited to their mobile way of life. This chained individual, restrained by a heavy chain, illustrates how punishment could be both restrictive and adaptable across the endless steppe.