Léon Busy, born in Paris on April 19, 1874 and died in Paris in 1951, was a French photographer and curator who edited and contributed to numerous photo collections on colonial Indochina, Angkor and daily life in Southeast Asia.
Léon Busy grew up in a modest family: his father was a postal clerk. He had a brother his own age and two sisters some fifteen years apart.
A pupil at the Jesuit college in Vaugirard, then at the Ecole Sainte Geneviève, he entered the Ecole Polytechnique in 1895, at the age of 21. Of modest means, he received a scholarship to this renowned school, where he received both a scientific and military education.
In his third year of studies, he decided to pursue a career in the administrative services of the armed forces, and joined the Colonial Commissariat.
In 1898, having completed his studies, he left for Tonkin, where he worked as an administrator in Hanoi.
In 1901, he was repatriated to France on sick leave for malaria. This illness stayed with him for the rest of his life, and although he returned to Tonkin in 1902, he alternated between staying in Tonkin and convalescing in France until 1917.
Then, until 1920, he held the position of military sub-intendant, equivalent to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the infantry. He retired after 28 years’ service, receiving the Legion of Honor medal with the rank of chevalier (1916).

He married Marie Hoerd in 1899 and had three children (1899, 1903, 1906). He practiced photography as an amateur, then for the Archives de la planète and as a staff photographer for the Indochina government.

He honed his passion for photography to perfection with autochrome, the first industrial color process, patented by the Lumière brothers in 1903 and marketed to the general public in 1907.
His passion and know-how for this process enabled him to write and explain in popular articles the principles and exposure times required to produce a good photograph.
In 1913, he became a member of the Société Française de Photographie (SFP), and that year took part in the 6th competition for color photographs on autochrome, dioptichrome and omnicolor plates, winning two prizes.

In 1921, Léon Busy was released from his military obligations, and it was with enthusiasm and passion that he began photographing. His first destination was Phnom Penh, where he lived. He photographed for the Geographical Society itself, as well as for the Marseille Colonial Exhibition. He began to make a name for himself, photographing more for the art of photography than for the historical or ethnographic aspects.

In 1923, he became a contract photographer for the economic affairs department of the Indochina government, working under René Têtart. It is in this capacity that we know his photographs, which were popularized by postcards.
In 1926, René Têtart’s photocinematographic department was dissolved, but Léon Busy remained and took over the photographic department. It was this department, attached to the Office Indochinois, which organized the 1931 Colonial Exhibition, and even spearheaded Indochina’s tourist propaganda.
These photos continue to be reproduced and sold as postcards. They were also used in letters to our soldiers from 1945-1954.

Sources : Hanoi en couleur
ISBN 978 360 2325 563
Biography: Guillaume Maylandler