Léo & Antonin Boulade
Ballon Arago above Monplaisir
Near Lyon, 1905
Vintage glass positive, 180x130 mm. Antonin Boulade and his brother Léo filed numerous patents in optics and photography. Close friends of the Lumière brothers, they also set up a major photographic products factory in Monplaisir in 1895, which Léo managed alone, while his brother took over the Zenith carburetor factory, also in Monplaisir. Antonin developed a passion for aerostation and aviation at an early age, and in 1894, he made a number of ascents from the Parc de Tête-d'Or, and even the Place Bellecour, before founding the Aéroclub du Rhône in 1889, which he chaired until his death in 1929.
