Photographs of Citroën vehicles: public presentation and sedan registered 1956

In this document

This archive brings together two black and white photographs, without any caption or accompanying text.

Page 1 — A public presentation

A high-angle photograph shows a sedan surrounded by a very dense crowd of men in suits and hats. Uniformed officers in kepis are present, one of whom is holding a wind instrument (trumpet or horn). Cameras are raised in the audience p. 1. The scene evokes an official presentation or a public event around the vehicle, without the exact nature of the occasion being specified by the document.

Page 2 — A sedan in front of a property

The second photograph shows a four-door sedan automobile parked in front of a wrought-iron gate, facing a house with a rendered facade and climbing vegetation. The car features a vertical grille with chrome slats, two protruding round headlights, chrome bumpers and running boards. Its front license plate bears the inscription "1956 75" p. 2.

Context

The file to which this archive belongs, titled "From the Traction Avant to the DS", evokes the history of the transition between these two iconic models of Citroën, a brand for which Paul Magès developed the hydropneumatic suspension, introduced on the DS presented in 1955.

The "1956 75" plate on page 2 corresponds, according to the French registration customs of the time, to a vehicle put into circulation in the Seine department (75) dated 1956 — an indication external to the document which does not, however, allow for the confirmation of the date of the photograph itself, nor the precise identity of the model represented.

The crowd scene on page 1 recalls, by its scale, the highly publicised public presentations organised by Citroën for its new products during this period, such as that of the DS at the Paris Motor Show in 1955.

Archivist's perspective

These two photographs, devoid of any caption, seem to belong to the general visual documentation kept in the Magès archives rather than his direct technical work. It is probable that they served to illustrate, in a historical summary file, the stylistic evolution of Citroën sedans "from the Traction Avant to the DS".

The presence of a crowd and camera lenses on page 1 p. 1 suggests a public presentation event, without it being possible to specify the location or date from the document alone. The "1956" plate visible on page 2 p. 2 could, with all due reservations, place this second image in the mid-1950s.

This archive can be compared with the Comparative photographic plate of French brands, from the same file, which also documents, through images, the competitive context of the French automobile of this period.