Inventions 1915-1938

Between 1915 and 1938, thousands of films and photographs were produced in France as part of a national policy encouraging new scientific and industrial research. These largely unknown images stand as visual witnesses to the analogue archives that trace the nation’s history of innovation, anchored at first in war and national defence, and later shifting towards civilian and domestic life. The pictures also present a narrative that is still unfolding today – that of the institutionalisation of research. From the outset, a systematic archiving policy was implemented that resulted in the collection of administrative yet aesthetically remarkable images reproduced in this book.