Glass Photo Negatives from Early 20th Century Found In Switzerland

1,250 glass negatives taken between 1910 and 1925 by Jules Decrauzat, the first sports photographer and photojournalist in the history of Switzerland, were found in the archives of Keystone. The negatives feature tennis, boxing, glider’s flights, motorcycle and automobile races that took place in Europe in the beginning of the 20th century.

Decrauzat was born in 1879 in the city of Biel, and worked as a sculptor in Paris before starting his career as a photographer. He was one of the first photographers to document important historical events – at that time cameras were mainly used to make studio portraits. During his career he took more than 80,000 photographs, but many have not survived.

The Swiss Foundation for Photography is creating a book about Decrauzat’s life that will include of the found photos.

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