Antoine Lumière, a visionary entrepreneur, bid farewell to his hometown in the picturesque Haute-Saône region in 1860, with a bold vision to establish a photography business in the charming city of Besançon. The following year, 1862, marked the arrival of his firstborn, Auguste, and two years later, in 1864, his second son, Louis, joined the family.
Fast-forward to 1870, Antoine made the pivotal decision to relocate his family to the vibrant city of Lyons, where he established a new workshop, laying the groundwork for a successful business. Over the ensuing decade, he diligently worked towards building an industrial manufacturing plant for photographic plates, gradually increasing his production capacity.
In 1893, Antoine's sons, Auguste and Louis, took the reins of the company, steering it towards unprecedented success. By the time Edison's revolutionary kinetoscope made its debut in France in 1894, the Lumière Company had grown into a behemoth, boasting a workforce of 300 individuals and an astonishing annual production of 15 million photographic plates, all with a capital base of 3 million francs.
