In 1911, one man launched an ambitious project to photograph humanity before modernization changed it forever

Left: autochrome of the actress Matsumoto Tome dressed as a geisha in Kyoto, Japan, 1912; right: autochrome of a condemned man, perhaps a soldier, punished by cangue in Urga (Ulaanbaatar), Mongolia, 1913

In 1911, French banker Albert Kahn launched an ambitious project to document humanity before modernization changed it forever. His Archives de la Planète