Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar () or Félix Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist who was a proponent of heavier-than-air flight. In 1858, he became the first person to take aerial photographs. Photographic portraits by Nadar are held by many of the great national collections of photographs. His son, Paul Nadar, continued the studio after his death.

Life

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (also known as Nadar) was born in early April 1820 in Paris, though some sources state he was born in Lyon. His father, Victor Tournachon, was a printer and bookseller. Nadar began to study medicine but quit for economic reasons after his father's death. His work was published in Le Charivari for the first time in 1848. In 1849, he founded La Revue Comique à l'Usage des Gens Sérieux. He also edited Le Petit Journal pour Rire.

In 1860, Nadar moved to 35 Boulevard des Capucines where he photographed a wide range of personalities: politicians (Guizot, Proudhon), stage actors (Sarah Bernhardt, Paulus), writers (Hugo, Baudelaire, Sand, Nerval, Gautier, Dumas), painters (Corot, Delacroix, Millet), and musicians (Liszt, Rossini, Offenbach, Verdi, Berlioz). It was published in Le Journal Illustré. He also pioneered the use of artificial lighting in photography, working in the catacombs of Paris. He was thus the first person to photograph from the air with his balloons, as well as the first to photograph underground, in the Catacombs of Paris.

For publicity, he recreated balloon flights in his studio with his wife, Ernestine, using a rigged-up balloon gondola. He stayed a passionate aeronaut until he and Ernestine were injured in an accident in Le Géant.

thumb|: "Revolving" self-portrait by Nadar

Le Géant (The Giant) inspired Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon. Nadar was the inspiration for the character of Michael Ardan in Verne's From the Earth to the Moon.

During the Siege of Paris in 1870–71, Nadar was instrumental in organising balloon flights carrying mail to reconnect the besieged Parisians with the rest of the world, thus establishing the world's first airmail service. He photographed Victor Hugo on his death-bed in 1885. He is credited with having published (in 1886) the first photo-interview (of famous chemist Michel Eugène Chevreul, then a centenarian). Nadar was recognized for breaking the conventions of photographic portrait, choosing to capture the subjects as active participants.

As of 1 April 1895, Nadar turned over the Paris Nadar Studio to his son Paul. He moved to Marseille, where he established another photography studio in 1897. On 3 January 1909 he returned to Paris.

Nadar died on 20 March 1910, aged 89. He was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. The studio continued under the direction of his son and long-term collaborator, Paul Nadar (1856–1939).

Works

Towards the end of his life, Nadar published Quand j'étais photographe, which was translated into English and published by MIT Press in 2015. The book is full of both anecdotes and samples of his photography, including many portraits of recognizable names.

The painter Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres sent some of his clients to Nadar to have their photographs taken as studies for his paintings.

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File:JapaneseMissionAndNadarSon.JPG|Nadar's son (center) with Yatsu Kanshiro (left) and an unnamed samurai (right), photographed by Nadar. They were members of the Second Japanese Embassy to Europe in 1863.

File:Dessin de Nadar 1850.jpg|Caricature of Balzac, 1850

File:Charles Baudelaire.jpg|Charles Baudelaire, 1855

File:Sarah Bernhardt, par Nadar, 1864, sepia.jpg|Sarah Bernhardt,

File:Georges Ernest Boulanger by Atelier Nadar.jpg|Georges Ernest Boulanger

File:BRÉSIL, Marguerite Neurdein. Photo Nadar.jpg|Marguerite Brésil

File:Maréchal Canrobert by Nadar.jpg|François Certain de Canrobert

File:Georges Clemenceau Nadar.jpg|Georges Clemenceau

File:Atelier Nadar - Pierre Kropotkine.jpg|Peter Kropotkin

File:Photograph of Gustave Doré by Nadar, between 1856 and 1858.jpg|Gustave Doré, between 1856 and 1858

File:Charles Gounod (1890) by Nadar.jpg|Charles Gounod in 1890

File:Elisabeth de Gramont - Nadar - 1889.jpg|Élisabeth de Gramont, 1889

File:Franz Liszt by Nadar, March 1886.png|Franz Liszt

File:Jean-François Millet by Nadar, Metropolitan Museum copy.jpg|Jean-François Millet

File:Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, close up, with slight smile by Nadar.jpg|Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, king of Persia 1848–1896

File:Édouard de Reszke by Nadar (BPL Hale Coll).jpg|Édouard de Reszke

File:Séverine, debout, un poing sur la hanche - Nadar.jpg|Séverine,

File:Simon Sina by Nadar.png|Simon Sinas

File:Pedro II of Brazil by Nadar.jpg|Pedro II of Brazil

File:Maria l'Antillaise, tenant un éventail - Nadar.jpg|Maria l'Antillaise (1860s), tentatively identified as Maria Martínez

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See also

  • Prix Nadar, French photojournalism prize given in Nadar's name
  • Mononymous person, a person known with only one word
  • Michel Ardan, a character from the 1865 novel From the Earth to the Moon who was inspired by Nadar

References

  • 1867 Caricature of Nadar by André Gill
  • Article about Nadar by Bruce Sterling
  • Article about Nadar by Roger Cicala
  • Fostinum: Nadar numerous photographs by Nadar
  • Gaspard-Félix Tournachon Nadar at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne, Australia