Alberto Santos Dumont pilots his airship number 7 during the Deutsch Prize.

• Two large original and previously unpublished photographs by Alberto Santos Dumont.
• The two photographs were pasted onto rigid paper, front and back, by the photographer (unidentified).
• 29 cm x 23 cm.
• Paris, Parc des Coteaux de Longchamps, 1904.
• Good condition of conservation.
• Unique piece.

French subtitles

1a : Prix Deutsch - Le Santos Dumont N7 at Parc des Coteaux de Longchamps, le départ, lâchez tout !

1b : Prix Deutsch - Le Santos Dumont N7 at Parc des Coteaux de Longchamps, ésais au départ.

How many attempts does it take to become a genius? For all those who believe that the qualities of a prodigy are innate, and that the person who was fortunate enough to have them will not need to make any more efforts throughout life, Alberto Santos Dumont is proof that the real path of those who have made their mark on history is quite different. In fact, genius has another synonym: resilience. The father of aviation, before his famous flight in the 14-bis, designed no less than 13 other models of his “flying machines”, many of them with their own stories.

This is the case of his airship “No. 7”, a fast aircraft that was created to compete for aviation prizes at the 1904 Universal Exhibition, but which never made it to the battlefield due to sabotage. Reports from the time state: “Two days later, when it was unfolded for its first inflation, it was discovered that the canvas had been torn along its entire length. The perpetrator of the crime (was he a psychopath?) will never worry the police.” The mystery was never solved and the sad end of the airship, before it could even take flight, makes the large-scale, and most likely unpublished, photos of No. 7 even more valuable.

But who would be capable of such an atrocity against a man who sought nothing more than the progress of humanity? Doubt still lingers in the air, and the search for answers incites creativity. At the beginning of the 20th century, Santos Dumont was recognized and admired in Paris, and it is certain that with such admiration would also come enemies. Could it have been another inventor who sabotaged Dumont's airship? Perhaps one of the other competitors at the 1904 Universal Exhibition? It is important to keep in mind that such an event was a milestone in the history of global technological development, and the prize in question was ultimately nothing less than making a mark on history.

In the years leading up to the First World War, humanity witnessed a technological leap that has impacted our lives to this day. If today our Pantheon is populated by athletes and Hollywood stars, at the beginning of the last century, inventors were the names adored by the masses who eagerly consumed the emergence of advances that are now part of our daily lives. From cars to airplanes, including the media and all types of household appliances, imagine what life was like without these conveniences, and we will soon understand how their creation impacted daily life and highlighted those responsible for their creation. In 1904, Santos Dumont was one of these names, recognized in Paris, more than for his genius, but for his audacity.

And what does audacity mean if not persistence even in the face of adverse conditions? Santos Dumont was an above-average person for his ideas and boldness, but, above all, for his courage to persist in the face of each fall, long before even taking to the air, a lesson for our current society, accustomed to instant gratification.

And if these unpublished photos of Nº7 - found in a private archive in Paris - were your constant reminder of the power of perseverance, what dream would you have the audacity not to give up on?