Photo collection
With a photo collection of approximately 13,000 images, the Samaritaine preserves, maintains and shares the visual heritage of the period, buildings and artistic events linked to this district.
The collection is made up of two main categories:
The historical photo collection - initiated by Ernest Cognaqc, founder of La Samaritaine department stores - includes approximately 2,000 photos dating from 1900 to 1930 covering the construction of Stores 2 and 3, together with images of the shops’ daily operations and the lives of their employees.
The contemporary photo collection is divided into two distinct parts. Images from the "My Samaritaine" photographic campaigns from 2013 to 2019, including works commissioned from young artists (Smith, Anaïs Boudot, Philong Sovan, etc) and well-known names (such as Sarah Moon, Georges Rousse, Stéphane Couturier and more) who were given complete artistic freedom, resulting in around 300 works covering artistic, plastic and video visions of the site. Meanwhile approximately 10,600 images cover the development of the site from 2015 to 2020, commissioned from Pierre-Olivier Deschamps, Agence VU' and Vladimir Vasilev.
These two sets of images form an important part of the archives of this emblematic location and a visual record of the iconic department stores that were finally reborn in 2021 after a 16-year closure.