Flash (back), ou La vieille France qui s’en va

This article analyzes Charles Géniaux’s pioneering use of flash photography in his 1903 work, La vieille France qui s’en va, to construct an image of rural Brittany by illuminating the interiors of traditional Breton farms with the artificial light of the flash. Géniaux participates in a dual project: he aligns himself with the fin-de-siècle discourse lamenting the disappearance of rural traditions in the face of modernity and constructs a national history through the patrimonialization of the regional. By highlighting the furniture and customs presented as vestiges of a bygone past, Géniaux effaces and anonymizes contemporary Breton peasants, presenting them as unconscious guardians of a heritage they cannot fully appreciate. The article examines how Géniaux’s use of the flash, by prioritizing material heritage over the inhabitants, contributes to freezing a dynamic Breton culture and transforming it into a spectacle intended for urban audiences, thus anticipating its relegation to the past and its potential integration into private collections.