April 1932 – Běijīng – Temple of Heaven
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Charles Lépissier loved to take photographs and took a very large number. He started doing so as soon as he returned to China in 1907. His wife Madeleine would also take up photography.
The first are stereoscopic photographs (glass plates with gelatin and silver bromide). Most have been well preserved by others are almost illegible. Thankfully, many have already been printed on paper.
The photo albums and stereoscopic glass plates were split between Charles and Madeleine’s four children following the latter’s death.
More than 4,000 photographs of the "Lépissier Collection", dating from 1883 to 1939, have been scanned.
These photographs constitute a unique cultural heritage, due to their quantity and quality, not only from the point of view of the family, but also often from a historical point of view.
Naturally, over half of these photographs date from the last two periods of Charles’s life, namely from 1925 (in the Yúnnán and in Tiānjīn).
Photographs taken by third parties are also in these albums and have also been scanned by Bertrand Lépissier.
The majority of these photographs bear a date and place, but not all. There can therefore be errors in the captions regarding the dates and times.
The photographs of the Lépissier Collection (4 476 photographs to date) and films of China have been divided into three categories :
A - photographs from China of general interest (3 767 photographs).
B - personal photographs taken in China and elsewhere autres (709 photographs).
The division between these two categories was made by the administrator of this website and is subjective.
C - films on China (Ongoing project)
Other photographs originating from the personal collections of families who lived in China in this period complete those of the Lépissier family. There are to date 2 392 photographs originating from other personal collections.
To date, 6 868 photographs appear on this website.
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A - General interest photographs from China (Only available to members of the Association Émile-Jean Lépissier)
6 107 general interest photographs are to date on line.
This category is subdivided into several tabs, for ease :
- General interest photographs from China (1) – Collection Lépissier : from 1880 to 1920 (relating to Émile-Laurent and Blanche Lépissier as well as Charles Lépissier's youth and first posts)
This tab contains 14 albums with 695 photographies
- General interest photographs from China (2) – Collection Lépissier : from 1920 to 1925 (Charles Lépissier in Mandchouria)
This tab contains 15 albums with 428 photographies
- General interest photographs from China (3) – Collection Lépissier : from 1925 to1930 (Charles Lépissier in the Yúnnán)
This tab contains 15 albums with 743 photographies
- General interest photographs from China (4) – Collection Lépissier : from 1931 to 1939 (Charles Lépissier in Tiānjīn)
This tab contains (for now) 16 albums with 1901 photographies
and
- General interest photographs from China – Collection Clémencey :
This tab presents two albums comprising a total of 247 photographs divided into an album of 139 photographs from the Collection Clémencey, when Marcel Clémencey was in Yúnnánfu for the Indochina and YYúnnán Railway in 1926 and 1927, and an album of 108 photographs of works on a railway line in China..
It will also eventually contain a tab from the Collection Clémencey (under construction), from when Marcel Clémencey was in Hanoi (Tonkin) for the Indochina and Yúnnán Railway in 1928 and 1929.
- General interest photographs from China – Collection Malortigue :
This tab contains an album with 45 photographs from the Collection Malortigue, taken in the Yúnnán between 1926 and 1929. Other albums seem to exist.
- Photographs from China – Collection Colinet :
This tab contains an album with 221 photographs from the Collection Colinet from 1906 to 1950. Gaston Colinet, a businessman from Tiānjīn was co-owner of the "Gaule" stable with Charles Lépissier. Paul, known as "Titi", Gaston's son, was Henri Lépissier's (Charles' son) best friend in Tiānjīn.
- General interest photographs from China – Collection Bouffanais :
This tab contains eight albums with 1 454 photographs from the Collection Bouffanais (some of which are also in the Collection Lépissier), from when Pierre Bouffanais was Charles Lépissier’s deputy consul in Tiānjīn from 1936 to 1939.
- Album 1 - Bouffanais : 259 photographs from life in Northern China in 1936-1939.
- Album 2 - Bouffanais : 135 photographs - Visits to Běijīng in 1936.
- Album 3 - Bouffanais : 83 photographs - Excursions to the North of Běijīng (Ming Tombs and Nankéou passage in the Great Wall ) and in Nánjīng, to the Xiàoling mausoleum and that of Sun Yat Sen.
- Album 4 - Bouffanais : 145 photographs - Boat trips in 1936 and 1939 trip to Japan in Octobre 1936.
- Album 5 - Bouffanais : 174 photographs - Yúnnán 1 (1946-1947) - On the road to Dali and Jianshui ; Yúnnán monuments ; agricultural scene and landscapes
- Album 6 - Bouffanais : 100 photographs - Yúnnán 2 (1946-1947) - Visit to the Gu Changba dam ; horticulture ; official visits ; Catholic worship in Yúnnán ; Yúnnán people.
- Album 7 - Bouffanais : 98 photographs - Yúnnán 3 (1946-1947) - Kūnmíng airport ; city of Kūnmíng and street scenes.
- Album 8 - Bouffanais : 103 photographs - Yúnnán 4 (1946-1947) - Consulate of France and residence of the consul ; temples of Kūnmíng and its surroundings.
- Album 9 - Bouffanais : 147 photographs - Yúnnán 5 (1946-1947) - Excursions and picnics; the lake Dīan; junks, sampans and fishermen; Xīshān and Sān Qīng Ge.
- Album 10 - Bouffanais : 68 photographs - Trip to Hong Kong and Macao (jan.-feb. 1948)
- Album 11 - Bouffanais : 142 photographs - Shànghǎi (1948-1949)
- General interest photographs from China – Collection Siguret :
This tab contains an album with 100 photographs, including 99 from the Collection Siguret, from when Joseph Siguret was Charles Lépissier’s consular secretary from 1934 and 1939 as well as other photographs Siguret’s career.
- General interest photographs from China - Collection Maille :
This tab contains three albums with a total of 325 photographs :
- Album 1 - Maille : 224 photographs from the Maille family from Tiānjīn, Shānhǎiguān and in the region of Běijīng (in the "Western Hills").
- Album 2 - Maille : 70 photographs from Jean-Claude Maille's childhood in China.
- Album 3 - Maille : 31 photographs of historical monuments of Běijīng.
B - Personnal and family photographs from China and elsewhere from the Collection Lépissier : (Only available to members of the Association Émile-Jean Lépissier)
This tab contains 8 albums with 709 photographies.
C- Family films from China : (Under construction – Only available to members of the Association Émile-Jean Lépissier)
As well as photographs, Charles Lépissier took 9.5 mm films.
A gift of the films from China has already been made to the Guimet Museum in 1974 by the Lépissier family.
Copies will be available on this tab.
© Tous droits réservés
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