PhotoSaintGermain-Deyrolle, Petite histoire des diapositives Deyrolle

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Deyrolle enriched its educational mission by producing glass lantern slides designed to be projected using magic lanterns. Manufactured in Paris's Quatre-Septembre district, they brought the wider world into classrooms and living rooms at a time when travel remained inaccessible to most people.

A veritable visual encyclopedia, this collection explores over 11,500 subjects: geography, botany, anatomy, mineralogy, industry, sports, beekeeping, and many other fields. From distant landscapes to natural phenomena, daily gestures to scientific advances, each image bears witness to an era driven by the desire to teach and understand the world.

On the occasion of PhotoSaintGermain, Deyrolle unveils a selection of these glass plates, drawn from the collection of Jean-Marie Donnat. Combining photography, science, and educational history, they recount another visual adventure: that of photography conceived not only to preserve a trace of reality, but also to share it.

Long before modern screens, a glass plate and a beam of light were all it took to capture and project, upon a wall, all the diversity of the world.