Association
Auguste François – (A.A.F.)
Français
A.A.F. is a French non-profit organisation
incorporated in France. It aims at promoting a legacy of cultural and
historical documents left by the French Consul Auguste FRANÇOIS (1857-1935).
These documents (early photographs, early films,
objects, maps and topological surveys, private and official letters, etc.)
where gathered by Auguste François over a period ranging from 1886 to 1904
during his different stays, most of them in the Far-East (Vietnam, South China,
Japan), but also in Paraguay and France.
Summary
Presentation of Association Auguste François
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It sometimes happens that some
extraordinary people, although their name may not be familiar to the public,
live and witness key moments of History, and thus provide us an outstanding
legacy. Auguste FRANÇOIS (1857-1935) is undoubtedly one of them.
Born in the French Lorraine region, he started his
career as a civil servant, in Arras, before being appointed in Nancy, and then
in Paris. After an administrative shift, he was transferred
to the Foreign Department, and thus, rather by chance, started a diplomatic
career which led him to the Far-East.
With the exception
of only one interruption – a period during which he was Consul in Paraguay –
Auguste François accomplished several missions in the Far-East, first in
Vietnam (French Tonkin at that time), and then in China, where his special
official status granted him exceptional autonomy.
As France's Consul
and Government Delegate in Yunnan, he had to face the rivalries and conflicting
interests between the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of
Colonies, and was also put under pressure by industrial lobbies ; he also had
to put up with the religious aspirations of Foreign Missions. In such a hostile
environment, Auguste François showed a rare ability to make up his own opinion
and rely on his own fortitude to guide his policy.
Being lucid about
the stalemate which the hypothesis any kind of confrontation with China would
have meant, he neither wanted to create diplomatic complications, nor did he
want to be a martyr. Even so, he showed great courage. During the xenophobic
Boxer uprising of 1900, when his consulate was besieged and ransacked by
Chinese rioters, showing much self-control, he saved the lives of all the
French residents, which he had gathered there in a gesture which earned him a
moment of fame. His name is also connected with the Yunnan railway, for which
he had been in charge of negotiating a concession.
Insatiably
curious, independent minded, an amused and indefatigable observer, urged by a
need to narrate and share his experiences whit his Parisian friends, he showed
great talent as a writer. A passionate photographer, he took thousands of pictures, showing us China, at a time
when it had not been impacted by Western influences on a large scale.
Furthermore, as
early as 1901, only six years after cinema had been invented, Auguste François
shot films showing everyday life in Yunnan.
Association Auguste FRANÇOIS
- (A.A.F.) : AAF was established in Paris in 1990
as a non profit-seeking organisation run under the French 1901 law on
associations. Its goal is to make Auguste François known, through the
preservation and publication of his works.
AAF is now a
hundred people strong, both active members and sympathizers. Its budget comes
from membership fees and from the proceeds of its activities. It acts sometimes
alone, and sometimes in cooperation with various partners. Its actions are
mostly in the following fields :
Publications : Two books - a photo album, L’ŒIL DU CONSUL, in 1989, and a text
book, LE MANDARIN BLANC, published in 1990 - were the first results of
our actions. Many publications refer to Auguste François. (See detail of the publications).
Collections : AAF is also concerned with enhancing the
visibility of the collections Auguste François assembled over the course of his
trips. A large part of them is now kept in museums in Paris (Musée Guimet,
which is the French National Museum of Asian Arts, and Musée de l’Homme and
around France in Angers, Lunéville, Saint-Etienne and Crépy-en-Valois. (See detail of the collections)
But AAF and some of its members still own a large estate consisting in
manuscripts and photographs (Southern China1896-1904 and Paraguay 1894-1895).
Exhibitions : Several exhibitions of Auguste François's
photographs have been organized. The first took place in 1991 in Lunéville,
where he was born. Others followed, particularly in Paris, Angers, La Défense,
Nantes and Versailles. In 1996, for an exhibition of previously unpublished
photographs staged with the help of Musée Guimet, the Georges Labit Museum in
Toulouse published a bilingual album under the title DE LA MER DE CHINE AU
TONKIN. After Toulouse, this exhibition travelled to Spain and Singapour. (See
detail of the exhibitions)
AAF enabled the Chineses
to discover how, over hundred years ago, a Frenchman saw their country. In
1997, the Yunnan Province Museum in Kunming attracted more than 80,000 visitors
to see the photographs in an exhibition which attracted great interest. Other
exhibitions followed : one in Beijing, at the Chinese Historical Museum, was
inaugurated by the French Ambassador. Others followed in Chongqing, Chengdu,
Xian, Zhengzhou, etc. In 1999, a new exhibition was organized in Kunming for
the international flower festival. Among the many Chinese and foreign visitors
came the President of the French Senate, the President of the Economic and
Social Council and the Minister of Agriculture. In China, both national and
local newspapers and television stations devoted many stories to the former
French Consul and to his photographs. Publications are ever increasing. A
Chinese website is now dedicated to Auguste François.
Films : AAF is also dedicated to saving and making
Auguste François's films known : they are among the first films ever made in
China, between 1901 and 1903. Copies have been bought by several museums and
scientific institutes, both French and foreign. In 1999, a 52 minutes magazine
about Auguste François was shown by France 3 on French TV under the title L’ŒIL
DU CONSUL.
Planned exhibitions abroad : Alone
or in partnership with other owners of ancient photographs of China, AAF
studies exhibition plans in prestigious venues abroad. They must meet the
quality requirements set by ancient photo specialists, and aim at the wider
public of all interested in history and in the Far East. Such projects imply
the publication of catalogues, which must be entrusted to specialists.
Publication projects : Several texts written by Auguste François have yet to
be published. They shed more light on several periods of the life and career of
the writer : childhood memories from Lunéville during the 1870 Franco-German
war, episodes of his Paris life as a diplomat around 1893, his mission as
consul to Paraguay in 1894 as well as travel notes from Palestine in 1909, etc.
A large number of yet unpublished photographs directly related to these texts
should enable us to set them off.
Protection of the photographic assets : Much
work remains to be done to scan the photos so as to save them as numeric files
as well as for the restoring of vintage prints and to perfect the means of
their conservation. We are looking, to this end, for all matters of expertise
and help, both technical and financial.
Inventory and research : We
pursue the on-going work of tracing and identifying the many documents
(photographs, letters, papers, maps and objects) Auguste François, with the assistance of his colleague
Jean-Joseph Beauvais, kept on sending to his friends and to many institutions :
French Foreign Office, Geographic Society, Anthropological Society, Foreign
Missions, Oriental Language School, etc. A first visit to Chinese Yunnan
Archives has also taken place. Tracks from Auguste François's passage there are
numerous. It is possible that we may find there documents or things lost or
stolen when the consulate was sacked in 1900.
Franco-Chinese cultural exchanges : AAF
is proud to have contributed to help the Yunnan Chinese to become more aware of
the need to protect their patrimony. Following Auguste François photo
exhibitions, local initiatives were taken to create a museum in Kunming,
dedicated to the city's past.
The publishing arm of Yunnan's Art Museum
came specially to Paris to explore the collections located in French museums.
This led to the publication in Kunming of a luxurious photo album, in Chinese,
on daily life in Yunnan at the end of the Qing dynasty and under the early
years of the Republic. The same editor then undertook the translation into
Chinese of LE MANDARIN BLANC, by A. François as well as of several
books by Victor Ségalen.
Off the shelf exhibition L’ŒIL DU CONSUL : AAF can lend a complete kit to stage a "ready to
hang" exhibition comprising some hundred photos made in southern China between 1896 and 1904. (Details
of the exhibition contents)
Search for a venue for
the keeping of AAF assets (photographs, films, manuscripts, documents,
objects...) insuring not only their long term preservation but also, if
possible, their presentation to the public.
Books : Auguste François’s books and albums interest a wide range of readers. They
constitute unusual presents and are generally well liked. AAF can help you find
out where to purchase them.
General Assembly : It takes place in Paris, every spring.
A
whole range of publications about Auguste François, his photographs and
his writings exists today. Some have just come out, and others are older. They
exist in the form of books, albums and articles in a variety of magazines, in
several languages. You may consult French bibliography, Chinese bibliography or English bibliography.
Several
films and videos are also available.
Address : 14 bis, avenue Bosquet - 75007 Paris (France)
Telephone and fax : 00 33 – (0) 1 39 54 51 37
E-mail : auguste.francois@libertysurf.fr
Our Web page : http://www.chez.com/augfrancois/index.htm
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Last updating : January 29th 2006