L'Association des Amis de Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud

Established as a French Association by the law of 1901, the goal of this association is "to promote the photographic work of Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud by placing it in the context of its time and the history of the French and World photography".

The Honorary President of the Association is Mick Micheyl, the grand daughter of the photographer: Mick Micheyl was also the key contributor of this project, giving the association access to the carefully arranged files in the house of Montmerle-sur-Saône where Major Tournassoud had his darkroom and where she now lives. Tapping her personal memories and also those of her many friends who spontaneously became members of the Association, we were able to collect invaluable information on the personality and the life of Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud.

We would also thank the Lumière Institute in Lyon, France for sharing its expertise of the Autochrome plates and to supplement the collection of Autochromes images by Tournassoud in its files. We also thank the many private individuals who agreed to give us access to their personal collections. Finally our thanks go to the various institutions who facilitated our research by opening their archives to us: The museum Nicéphore Niepce of Chalon sur Saône, the Museum of the Pays de l'Ain of Bourg en Bresse, the Clemenceau Museum and the ECPAD in Paris.

The first project of the Association was to create an Internet site in order to better aquaint the general public with the work of Jean Baptiste Tournassoud. We thank Edouard Valla for the implementation of the site and Mark Jacobs for bringing us his expertise in the Autochrome and for assisting with the English version.

We hope this project will be followed by other projects such as the organization of a major retrospective of the photographic work of Jean-Baptiste Tournassoud including the development of a "catalogue raisonne". All this requires time, goodwill and resources. If you would care to contribute to any of these projects, please contact us at the following address and we will welcome you as a new member of the Association.

The President,
Nadia Valla