People love to look back on the past by viewing old black-and-white photographs of their country, state, city, or town. For those living in the United States, there is a huge amount of historical images freely available to view, and in this article, you will have the opportunity to see some of these photos from the 1930s and 1940s brought to life with color through the process of colorization.
Sébastien de Oliveira is an artist that has expertly colorized these photos of the United States in the 1930s and 1940s. In-depth research paired with years of experience in colorizing photographs allows Sébastien to produce pieces of work with incredible realism and accuracy, providing you with a unique look into history full of color! Once you have enjoyed the photos in this article of 1930s and 1940s United States, be sure to follow Sébastien on Instagram and see more of his colorizations, which feature a more comprehensive array of countries and historical eras.
United States in the 1930s in Color


Harris & Ewing, 1935
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Berenice Abbott, 1936
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from New York Public Library


Berenice Abbott, 1936
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from New York Public Library


Russell Lee, 1937
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Berenice Abbott, 1937
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from New York Public Library
United States in the 1940s in Color


Jack Delano, 1940
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Russell Lee, 1940
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Russell Lee, 1941
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Russell Lee, 1941
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Jack Delano, 1942
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress


Gordon Parks, 1943
Colorized by Sébastien de Oliveira // Original from Library of Congress
Be sure to check out more of Sébastien de Oliveira’s fantastic colorization work on his Instagram. If you are in France, you can purchase his book Back to America : Les Etats-Unis en couleurs (1935-1943)!
RELATED ARTICLE: Colorized Photo of American Revolutionary War Veteran William Hutchings, 1864
3 Responses
Sebastian, you do the best work, I
Have ever seen
I like old pictures of new York and other countries also, but New York is New York.
Presentation of old society by black and white & colored: Marvelous
Qumrul