The flower seller, Paris

Une marchande de fleurs, au niveau du 64 avenue Hoche, Paris (VIIIe arr.), France, 1924 (?), (Autochrome, 9 x 12 cm), Auguste Léon, Département des Hauts-de-Seine, musée Albert-Kahn, Archives de la Planète, A 69 599 X

Buying flowers at 64 Avenue Hoche, Paris, ca. 1924, by Auguste Léon, via Archives of the Planet Collection – Albert Kahn Museum /Département des Hauts-de-Seine.

This autochrome is one of about 72,000 that were commissioned and then archived by Albert Kahn, a wealthy French banker, between 1909 and 1931. Kahn sent thirteen photographers and filmmakers to 50 countries “to fix, once and for all, aspects, practices, and modes of human activity whose fatal disappearance is no longer ‘a matter of time.'”* The resulting collection is called Archives de la Planète and now resides in its own museum at Kahn’s old suburban estate at Boulogne-Billancourt, just west of Paris. Since June 2016, the archive has also been available for viewing online here.

I wasn’t able to make a flower arrangement this week for “In a vase on Monday,”‘ but to see what other garden bloggers have created today, please visit host Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.


*words of Albert Kahn, 1912. Also, the above photo (A 69 599 X) is © Collection Archives de la Planète – Musée Albert-Kahn and used under its terms, here.

Life in gardens: Oslo, Norway

Frognerparken, Oslo, 1921-22, flickr CommonsFrognerparken, Oslo, ca. 1921, by Kristian Berge, via Fylkesarkivet i Sogn og Fjordane (The County Archives in Sogn go Fjordane) Commons on flickr.

Life in gardens: elephant ride

Zoological Park, Lisbon, Bibliotheca de Arte, Lisbon, flickr.Jardim Zoológico, Lisbon, Portugal, 1927, by Mário Novais, via Biblioteca de Arte / Art Library Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian on flickr (used under CC license).

The Lisbon Zoo was founded in 1884 and moved to its current location in 1905. This may be a photo of the zoo’s first African elephant, which it received in 1926, a gift from the King of Italy.

Life in gardens: after lunch

Västra Götaland, Lysekil, Lysekil, Bohuslän, Övrigt-Sällskapsliv“Three women, Lysekil, Sweden,” 1880s, a cyanotype by Carl Curmanvia Swedish National Heritage Board Commons on flickr.

The woman at the top of the picture is Calla Curman, wife of the photographer.

For more images like this one, check out one of my favorite blogs, It’s About Time, which is currently posting a series, “Summer Women” — beautiful mostly 19th century paintings of women and children in the garden.

The Sunday porch: the P.O.

Memie & first p.o., Florida“Memie” (Mary Elizabeth Edwards) and her first post office in Lloyd, Florida, ca. 1910, via State Library and Archives of Florida (Florida Memory) Commons on flickr.

Shades of Eudora Welty. . . here’s her famous story.