Spéos Photo School is very concerned with ongoing research and in preserving a very significant French National Heritage site since 1999: The Nicéphore Niépce House Museum. This is the location where the very first photograph in the world was taken by the true inventor of photography, Nicéphore Niépce, some years before Daguerre and Fox Talbot.
The world’s first photography
It is in Burgundy, 350 km from Paris, in the house of Le Gras that Nicéphore Niépce designed and realized most of his inventions. From one of the windows of the house he realized in 1827 the Point of view taken from a window of the property of Le Gras, considered the oldest photograph in the world that has come down to us. It is preserved today in the Gernsheim Collection at the University of Austin, Texas.
The year 2024 marks the bicentennial of the invention of photography.
On September 16, 2024, photography celebrated its 200th anniversary! To commemorate this memorable date, Spéos and the Maison Nicéphore Niépce organized an exceptional exhibition, immersing visitors in the history of this revolutionary invention that transformed the way we observe and document the world.
The exhibition, held at Quai de la Photo, retraces the fascinating journey of photography and highlights the pioneering work of Nicéphore Niépce, who created the first permanent image in 1824: “I am pleased to finally be able to announce to you that, thanks to the improvement of my processes, I have succeeded in obtaining a view as I desired. It was taken from your room, on the side of Le Gras. I used my largest camera obscura and my largest stone for this purpose,” he wrote to his brother Claude, who was then in England, in a letter dated September 16, 1824.
This landmark exhibition was entirely organized and financed by Spéos and the Maison Niépce, the only ones to celebrate this historic 2024 anniversary, thus recalling their central and pioneering role in promoting the world’s photographic heritage.
“Maison des Illustres”
A national heritage site preserved by Spéos, the Niépce House Museum was awarded the prestigious label “Maison des Illustres” by the French Ministry of Culture in 2013, with sponsorship of the Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Fine Arts.
“Club des Illustres”
In 2019, Spéos/Nicéphore Niépce House Museum, together with the Clemenceau-de Lattre Museum, have created the “Club des Illustres” association, an initiative sponsored by the ministry of Culture.
This Club aims to help its members to maintain and improve the missions that have enabled them to be awarded the “Maisons des Illustres” label: conservation, enhancement, cultural offer, mediation and reception. The Club’s purpose is to propose and implement any means and any action to:
– put in contact the houses labelled “Maisons des Illustres”,
– encourage exchanges between them in order to create and implement a professional network,
– make the “Maisons des Illustres” and their activities known to as many people as possible.
> Discover the “Club des Illustres” website
Niépce, Correspondance et Papiers
Correspondence of Nicéphore Niépce, the inventor of photography, is compiled in a book of 1,600 pages written by a descendant of Niépce and a researcher of the CNRS. This book is edited by Éditions Maison Nicéphore Niépce. Its is fully available online (in French only). Spéos continues to invest in research into Nicéphore Niépce’s inventions.
The first internal combustion engine in the world, invented by the Niépce brothers
Discover the best moments of the entrance of the Pyréolophore into Le Musée des Arts et Métiers! The event took place on 27 September, 2018.
The oldest photo lab in the world!
The intact photographic laboratory of a contemporary of Niépce, Joseph Fortuné Petiot-Groffier.