Émile Hamonic
Illustration — Émile Hamonic (left) with his friend Théodore Botrel (plus Léna Botrel and Paul Barbier), at the Celtic Congress of Caernarfon, 1904. Émile Eugène Louis Hamonic (1861–1943) was a French photographer and publisher, associated with the picture-postcard boom of the early 20th century. He established himself as a publisher of picture postcards in Saint-Brieuc in 1893, becoming one of the first great editors of this genre. His cards typically presented idealised images of his native Brittany.
Also recorded as Emile Hamonic
Émile Hamonic
John Wickens · The Book of Mad Celts · Public domain
- Full name
- Émile Eugène Louis Hamonic.
- Born
- 1861. · Moncontour.
- Died
- 1943. · Saint-Brieuc.
- Nationality
- France.
- Occupation
- photographer, editor, painter and postcard publisher.
- Languages
- French.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — Émile Hamonic (left) with his friend Théodore Botrel (plus Léna Botrel and Paul Barbier), at the Celtic Congress of Caernarfon, 1904. Émile Eugène Louis Hamonic (1861–1943) was a French photographer and publisher, associated with the picture-postcard boom of the early 20th century. He established himself as a publisher of picture postcards in Saint-Brieuc in 1893, becoming one of the first great editors of this genre. His cards typically presented idealised images of his native Brittany.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
Émile Hamonic (1861–1943) was a French editor, painter and photographer, among other activities. Born Émile Eugène Louis Hamonic in Moncontour, the editor died in Saint-Brieuc. Émile Hamonic was a member of Celtic dinner and worked in Saint-Brieuc.
Languages used include French. Works by the editor are held at Musée d'art et d'histoire de Saint-Brieuc.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 01 October 2026
VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Émile Hamonic. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q249337 · wikipedia · Émile Hamonic
In this article
Life
Life
He was also a committed supporter of Breton regionalism, and was an active member of the Breton Regionalist Union.
He was born on 26 August 1861 at Moncontour in Côtes-du-Nord. He was one of nine siblings. His family operated a hardware store and bought and sold antiques. His parents took him along on their buying-trips into the surrounding countryside and he became a passionate lover of the brand new velocipede bicycle. He was apprenticed to a photographer in Dinard, and after his military service, he established himself as a professional photographer in Moncontour, later moving to Saint-Brieuc.
Postcards
Postcards
Hamonic was one of the first to recognise the development of the picture postcard to France. To provide an outlet for photographers and painters like him, he founded the Éditions d'art Hamonic in Saint-Brieuc. His company was a tremendous success, exploiting the popularity of picturesque images of Brittany for tourists, which were abundant in the summer months. These postcards are usually signed "Hamonic", or, rarely, "E.H." He is particularly associated with Théodore Botrel, often reproducing on his cards the lyrics of the popular singer-songwriter. Several of Botrel's ballads were illustrated postcard-sequences, in which the stories told in the songs were acted out in a series of dramatic tableaux. He also produced a number of publicity images of Botrel with his wife, Léna. From 1906 to 1909, he published the pictures of Jean-Marie Le Doaré. These cards are signed "Hamonic, the Doaré cliché". In 1922, affected by illness, he retired, leaving his business to his son, Amaury.
Bretonism
Bretonism
Hamonic was one of the first members of the Breton Regionalist Union, founded in 1898. He actively promoted Breton regionalist identity in his publications. He also helped to develop the pan-Celticist movement, attending the Celtic Congress of Caernarfon in 1904. In July 1906 he was one of the organizers, with Octave-Louis Aubert, of a pan-Celticist historical festival held in Saint-Brieuc. He was made an honorary bard of the Gorsedd of Brittany.
photograph of delegates at the Celtic Congress 1904, Caernarfon. Back row: Maggie Jones (harpist of Arfon); Mrs Gruffydd Richards (chief harpist of Gwent), David Roberts (blind harpist of Mawddwy), Gwyneth Vaughan. Front row: Pedwr James, Emile Hamonic, Lena Botrel, Theodore Botrel, Professor Paul Barbier
John Wickens (d 1936) · A Book of Mad Celts
Illustration for Erwan Berthou's mortuary chronicle in the magazine La Bretagne, illustration by E. Hamonic
E. Hamonic · Self-scanned
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Moncontour.
Birth place
Saint-Brieuc.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Baud Cartopole
- 2.Marion Loffler, A Book of Mad Celts: John Wickens and the Celtic Congress of Caernarfon 1904, Gomer Press, 2000.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 17 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Photography
11,392 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Emil RathenauPhotographer
- Emila MedkováPhotographer
- Émile BrugschPhotographer
- Emile Hamilton-FellowesPhotographer
- Émile ReutlingerPhotographer
- Émile ReynaudPhotographer
- Émile SavitryPhotographer
- Emile WaxweilerPhotographer
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Émile Hamonic?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.