"The Raging Waters", headlined the newspaper Le Rappel on 24 January 1910, as the flooding of the Seine reached record levels, up to 8.62 m on the 28th. Exceptional, the event aroused the curiosity of Parisians as well as of photographers. Professionals and amateurs alike, the ownership of a camera having spread at the beginning of the 20th century, immortalised the flooded streets of Paris and, for some, sold their prints to the press or to postcard publishers.
Captured on the spot or posing, disaster victims, rescue workers and onlookers convey the scale of the catastrophe and the wave of solidarity it inspired. As for the abundance of images, it bears witness to the emergence of a new media system in which photography, whose bicentenary is being celebrated this year, is central.
The collections of the City of Paris, held in specialised libraries, at the Archives de Paris and in the Roger-Viollet collection, constitute considerable sources. Accessible to all, they make it possible to better understand the history of Paris but also to shed light on the environmental issues of the present. They also offer a valuable material to artists, authors and filmmakers to nourish their creative work and bring forth new imaginaries.
The feature film L'Age d'or, directed by Bérenger Thouin, is part of this approach. Presented at the Cannes Film Festival in May and due in French cinemas in November, it portrays a woman across the 20th century by blending images shot by the team and the actors today with old films from the Gaumont Pathé Archives collection, and thus offers us a new perspective on the 1910 flood.
An exhibition presented by the Comité d'histoire de la Ville de Paris, the Archives de Paris, Roger Viollet, Pyramides Production, GoGoGo Films and Gaumont Pathé Archives.
To find out more about the 1910 flood