Citizen Kahn

Citizen Kahn

Albert Kahn was born in 1860. After humble beginnings as a Paris bank clerk, he made a fortune by investing in South African mines. The millionaire banker, who created remarkable Japanese gardens at his Boulogne-Billancourt residence, soon made it his mission to “document the planet”, a seemingly impossible task. Convinced of the importance of cultural dialogue in promoting universal peace, he sent photographers and filmmakers to more than 60 countries to document and record opium smokers in Tonkin, American cowboys, nomads, Mongols and Maharajahs, building up an incomparable archive collection.