Albert Kahn (1860-1940) - Photography for a Vision of World Peace

Born in Alsace of a Jewish family, Albert Kahn moved to Paris when the province was annexed by Germany in 1871 as a result of the Franco-Prussian war. Kahn made his vast fortune first in diamond mining and then as a banker in the world of international finance, most notably in loans in Japan, partly facilitated through connection with the Japanese royal family. But Kahn's claim on our attention these days is as the initiator of an early and grandiose project to make a coloured photographic record of the peoples and cultures of the world. To promote peace and understanding on a global scale. As a philanthropist, he financed this extraordinary project which sponsored photographers to travel to at least 50 countries from 1907 till the demise of his wealth in the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the venture had to be abandoned. I've made a selection of photographs over the period of the project - taking in Africa, the Balkans, England and Ireland, Europe, the Far East, France, the Middle East, Mongolia and Scandinavia. With a selection of portraits and images of World War One. I've added an audio track - the Andante of Mozart's Sonata for Piano, K 448.

View Count: 0 Date: December 6, 2011