Photo of the week – January 3, 2013

For the first photograph of 2014, I decided to find something taken in France 100 years ago. It’s a work by photographer Charles Lansiaux, titled Gare Saint-Lazare. Les malheureux privés de leur gagne-pain vendent des journaux (Saint-Lazare station. The unfortunate deprived of their livelihood selling newspapers). 1914 marked the start of World War I and the Battle of Mulhouse, the opening attack by the French army against Germany. It was also the year that Jean Jaurès, French Socialist leader and anti militarist, was assassinated by a French nationalist fanatic. 1914 was also the birth year of writer and director Marguerite Duras, tennis player Marcel Bernard, and musician and composer Paul Tortelier. photo by Charles Lansiaux , via Flickr