Henri MANUEL was born on April 24th 1874, in Paris 3ème arondissement. He was the son of Jacob MANUEL and Célestine LEVY, and the older of three brothers (Gaston born in 1881, and Lucien MANUEL in 1882). On august 5th 1901, he got married to Rachel Camille MEYER , in Basel, Switzerland. In 1900, he opened up a studio specialized in the portrait of political and artistics personnalities with his second brother Gaston. But they splet up before the First Wolrd War, and Henri Manuel set up on his own in 27 rue du Faubourg-Montmartre, in the 9th arondissement. His brothers Gaston and Lucien created an other photographic studio in 1913 called ''G.L. Manuel Frères'', in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. From the First Wolrd War to 1944, he worked as an official photographer for the government. According to Françoise Denoyelle, between 1906 and 1938, ''Henri Manuel worked for thirty magazines, especially ''La Femme de France'' (1922-1935), ''Les Grandes Modes de Paris'' (1906-1931), ''Les modes de la femme de France'' (1922-1935), ''Le Petit Echo de la Mode'' (1928-1936)'' Between 1921 and 1931, he worked on a commission about prisons and underage's correctional institutions. In 1923, he illustrated the first edition of Nadja, written by André Breton, with Jacques-André Boiffard and Man Ray. Cosette Harcourt worked in 1932 and 1933 in his studio as a sale manager, before to create the Harcourt Studio. Over 600 photographic plates and printed copies are kept in the Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine.