POULENC FRÈRES

Wittman and Poulenc

Léon Wittman and his brother in law, Etienne Poulenc (1823-1878),  began by retailing photographic products under the “P.W.” name around 1852 and then manufacturing them round the end of the decade. After Etienne’s death in 1878, his widow ran the company with her sons for a couple of years, and then the 2 brothers, Gaston and Emile took over under the name Poulenc Frères. They focused on the production and distribution of fine chemicals, photographic products and colours for glass and ceramics. Meanwhile, the youngest brother, Camille, qualified as a pharmacist and then fires and up to silence in 1893. After he joined the company, they added a research laboratory and a scientific library.

In 1900, the firm became a public limited company. In 1903, they opened a new establishment in Paris dedicated to photographic products and including a projection room in the basement. They continued making pharmaceuticals and other chemicals including, also in 1903, the synthetic anaesthetic stovaine which was used on the large-scale until 1940. In 1928, Rhône-Poulenc, a conglomerate of small chemical and pharmaceutical companies, was formed.