Los 4132

Aviation
Early flight experiments in France

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Fotografie des 19. – 21. Jahrhunderts (Katalog nur online verfügbar)
Auktionsdatum 6.6.2026

Photographers: Maurice-Louis Branger (1878-1950), Agence Rol (active 1904-1937). Early aviation and aeronautical experiments in France. Ca. 1908-1913. 13 gelatin silver press photographs. Each ca. 12,7 x 18 cm. With press-agency copyright stamps, including “Copyright - Reproduction interdite / M. Rol, 4, rue Richer, Paris IXe” and “Copyright / M. Branger, 5, rue Cambon, Paris,” as well as annotated in blue ink on the verso.

These photographs place French aviation at a moment when scientific research and public spectacle still overlapped, tracing the shift from tethered man-lifting kites to powered aircraft presented before large crowds as signs of technological progress. The images show early box-like biplanes, experimental seaplanes tested on open water, and unconventional designs such as Jérôme Donnet’s circular-wing Donnet Aéraptère, photographed during ground and taxi tests at Suresnes shortly before the First World War. Together, they document a period of intense experimentation, when multiple approaches to flight coexisted before aviation assumed a more standardized form.