Léon Gimpel

Born in Strasbourg to an Alsatian Jewish family, Léon Gimpel was raised in Paris. A self-taught photographer, he began publishing his black-and-white photographs in 1900 in L’Illustration and other French journals. After meeting the Lumière brothers in 1904, Gimpel began experimenting with their autochrome process and became a pioneer of color photography. A portrait of the Danish royal family, published in a special June 29, 1907 issue of L’Illustration devoted to Gimpel’s prints, is considered the first published color photograph. Continuing to experiment, Gimpel would go on to pioneer many photographic techniques, including aerial photography, photography that played with light distortion, and night-time photography. Despite these innovations, his Grenata Street Army (1915) series of Parisian youth playing war continues to be his most recognized work.