Charles Lansiaux (1855-1939) became a photographer at the end of the 19th century. He established his own business in 1903, describing his company purpose as “Artistic and industrial photography, city works, emergency works, interior photography with artificial light, enlargements, amateur documentary photography.”
At the beginning of the war in 1914, he started documenting daily life in Paris, far from the frontline. The resulting series of over 1000 images, titled “Aspects of Paris during the war of 1914” was not initially intended for publication but to be preserved as a testimony of what had happened. The Paris Historical library purchased the images as they were taken.
1914. Gare de Lyon. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Wounded soldiers at the Trocadero. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Registration of Belgian refugees in the Paris circus. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Grands Boulevards. The great Viennese Café took on the appearance of an advertising agency. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914 Avenue du Maine. After two months of war, grocers put up banners in front of the store to show that things are going well. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. The Grand Palais. The kitchens were installed under the colonnade. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. A shop of the Maggi Swiss dairy company looted because suspected of selling poisoned milk, rue de la Tombe-Issoire. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. The Grand Palais. An interesting place to set the gun. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Young girls and women collecting money for casualties at a metro entrance. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Crowd in front of the headquarters of the newspaper “Le Matin”, boulevard Poissonnière. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. North Station. Hospital ward. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. North Station. The Red Cross collecting donations. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Gare Montparnasse. Ladies handed gifts to the wounded soldiers. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. North Station. Room for luggage turned into a hospital ward. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Hawker sells cloth opposite the Opera. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Handmade workshop, established through the generosity of the Duchess of Talleyrand in the galleries of the Trocadero. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. The Grand Palais, which became a hospital for wounded soldiers. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Rue Laseped. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Arab refugees in the area of Gare de Lyon. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1914. Refugees at the North Station. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1915. The transfer of the ashes of Rouget de Lisle in Les Invalides. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1915. Esplanade des Invalides. Mobilized Englishwoman. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1915. East Station. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
1915. Champs Elysees. Photo: Charles Lansiaux
