Henri Godefroy (1837-1913), photographe du Vieux Paris

Henri Godefroy (1837-1913) was the first photographer called upon by the Commission du Vieux Paris in 1898 and the founder, in the early 1900s, of an exceptionally inventive author's museum dedicated to his passion, Vieux Paris. A daring artist and virtuoso of photomontage, sometimes a forerunner of humanist photography, Henri Godefroy could also transform a commissioned architectural photograph into a genre scene of remarkable composition.

The 24 prints on display, remarkable for their visual richness and beauty, were made possible thanks to the restoration and digitization of Godefroy's negatives in 2026 by the Department for the Preservation of Photographic Heritage (D3P). They are part of a set of 60 very large format negatives produced by the photographer on glass plates at the end of the 19th century and exhibit exceptional sharpness and definition.

An exhibition by the Bibliothèque historique de la Ville de Paris in collaboration with the DEVE (Direction des Espaces verts et de l'Environnement) and the VIF festival in Vincennes.