Fonds Bontemps

Item set

Type: Public collection See all item sets with this value
Title: Fonds Bontemps
Description: This archive encompasses 400 still images and 23 silent films originally taken by André Bontemps, a deputy army judge who lived in the French Concession in Tianjin from 1931 to 1935.
content: This archive includes:
- 400 still images, some are annotated almost certainly in Jacques Lacome’s hand.
- 23 silent films
- 3 cameras (Welta Perle, Kodak Junior, Koilos)
- several maps
- several periodicals entitled “L’Ancre de Chine”, a bimonthly magazine liaising between French militaries in China
- tourist brochures on Japan and China
- tourist tickets

Taken chiefly in Tianjin in the mid-1930s, the photographs of this archive document this expatriate family daily life, their leisure, their travel experience, as well as military presence and activities in China.

In 2011 Jacques Lacome (André Bontemps’ grandson) donated the entire archive to the Parisian research centre called Institut d'histoire du temps présent (IHTP).

Since then the scholar Dr. Fleur Chabaille – specialised in Contemporary and Modern China urban history – offered a comprehensive visual study of this corpus. Starting from this case study, she eventually examined the French military presence in 1930s Tianjin.; http://scalar.usc.edu; The Institut d’Asie orientale (IAO) in Lyon digitized all the still and moving images, which are freely accessible on “Virtual Tianjin” website.; http://tianjin.virtualcities.fr
Temporal Coverage: Twentieth century (dates CE) See all item sets with this value
Spatial Coverage: Tianjin See all item sets with this value; Hong Kong See all item sets with this value; Shanghai See all item sets with this value; Shanhaiguan See all item sets with this value; Summer Palace See all item sets with this value; Beijing See all item sets with this value; Qingdao See all item sets with this value; Tanggu See all item sets with this value; Japan See all item sets with this value; Suez See all item sets with this value; Djibouti See all item sets with this value; Sri Lanka See all item sets with this value; Malacca See all item sets with this value; Singapore See all item sets with this value; Saigon See all item sets with this value; Marseille See all item sets with this value
Identifier: Cote IHTP ARC 3022
Subject: Expeditions (journeys) See all item sets with this value; Black-and-white photography See all item sets with this value; Landscapes (environments) See all item sets with this value; Townscapes (built environment) See all item sets with this value; Military photography See all item sets with this value; Soldiers See all item sets with this value; Street scenes See all item sets with this value; Monuments See all item sets with this value; Navigation See all item sets with this value; Travel photography See all item sets with this value
Language: French
location: IHTP See all item sets with this value; Paris See all item sets with this value
address: Institut d'histoire du temps présent (IHTP)
59/61 rue Pouchet, 75849 Paris Cedex 17; www.ihtp.cnrs.fr

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André Bontemps
Biographical elements: 7 October 1888: Birth of Georges André Bontemp in Château-Porcien, son of Jean Baptiste Achille Bontemps and Amélie Fournier. 10 April 1917 : Mariage in Paris 15th arrondissement with Berthe Thérèse Dessailly, born in Paris 17th arrondissement on 29 January 1893, daughter of Joseph Louis Dessailly et de Mathilde Binkert. André and Berthe had two children: Jean born in 1918 and Jacqueline born in 1922. Career: First wheelwright like his father in Château-Porcien, André Bontemps enlisted in the 11th artillery regiment as gunner on February 27, 1907 at the age of nineteen. In 1913, he entered the Ecole d’administration de Vincennes. During the First World War, he was not a fighter, but a second lieutenant in the maintenance service. Three albums kept at the Service Historique de la Défense (SHD) of the Château de Vincennes attest to his early passion for photography, which was combined with a concern for testimony and passing on history. Between 1921 and 1925, he was assigned to the Occupation Division in Tunisia. From 1927 to 1928, he took evening classes at Vincennes and completed a law degree. He became a military justice officer on December 4, 1928. He worked at the military court of Constantine as a deputy army judge. He was then appointed to Tianjin Military Court where he worked from 1931 to 1935. From 1931 to 1935 he lived in the French Concession in Tianjin at the following address: 181A St. Louis (the contemporary name is: Yingkou dao 营口道 street). Throughout his career, Bontemps kept on photographing his environment and he consequently left a significant visual archive notably regarding China.
Remise des décorations devant la Municipalité française
From right to left : l'Intendant militaire Valentin, le Médecin commandant Le Coty, le Payeur Sabourain, le Capitaine Martial, le Capitaine Gley (16e R.I.C.), le Capitaine Vera (groupe mixte), le Capitaine Scarbouchi (16e R.I.C.), le Capitaine Lalanne (artillerie), le Capitaine Casteriot (16e R.I.C.), le Capitaine Acquaviva (16e R.I.C.), le Lieutenant Parsi (16e R.I.C.), André Bontemps.