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Intro 1/3
Initially destined for a career in medicine, Nadar abandoned his studies after his father died and became a successful caricaturist and writer. His ambitious and widely popular Pantheon, a giant illustrated Who's Who of France's literati made Nadar famous. In 1853, he discovered the then nascent art of photography, quickly mastered it and worked with his brother Adrien to open what was to become a world-famous portrait studio.
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His portraits of the best artists, writers, composers, and actors of the day are legendary: Baudelaire, Hugo, Bernhardt, Sand, Dumas, Verdi, Liszt, Berlioz, Rossini—and anyone who would pay his high prices.
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In order to continue refining his artistic practice at night, he developed battery-powered lighting and other techniques to capture his animated subjects without fickle daylight. And to feed his passion for balloons and his romantic dreams of flight, he pretty much singlehandedly developed aerial photography, which led his friend Jules Verne to memorialize him in the book From the Earth to the Moon.
The Family 1/4
The story of Nadar, though, is as much about Felix as it is about the entire family. Three men and one woman are together responsible for the enduring legacy of the Nadar name.
The Family 2/4
Adrien Tournachon, initially a painter, was the first family photographer. Sponsored by his more famous and succesful caricaturist brother, Adrien created many memorable photographs, including the Pierrot Expression series which were taken and produced with Felix, and ulitmately led to their estrangement (more about that later).
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The boy in the family portrait is Paul, who as a child was the subject of many of Nadar's photographs before becoming studio assistant, primary studio photographer, and, after his father's death, a well-known celebrity photographer, entrepreneur, and inventor in his own right. His stewardship of the studio and estate is the main reason the Nadar name endures to this day.
The Family 4/4
Nadar's wife Ernestine was able to keep the family together for over 50 years. Unlike Nadar who was the definition of bohemian, Ernestine came from the bourgeoisie, and her sizable dowry kept Nadar afloat with his many initially unprofitable art projects, including the financing of the Pierrot Expression series. She pushed Nadar to pursue photography for its commercial potential, and Nadar quickly jumped in, determined to care for his newborn Paul much better than his father had for him.
A Passion for Technology & Flight 1/2
The history of photography is as much about technology as artistic expression. Many of the first photographers of the 19th century were inventors out of necessity as well. Louis Daguerre, William Henry Fox Talbot, Eadweard Muybridge, and Auguste and Louis Lumière, are a few names that come to mind. Interestingly, Nadar's passion for flight was perhaps greater than his love for photography. He dreamed of giant balloons and flying vessels that were heavier than air, despite nearly dying with Ernestine in a horrific ballooning accident in Germany.
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His son Paul was instrumental in developing the first "instant" cameras, which meant small, handheld, and using film, rather than heavy glass plates, from Eastman, which later became Kodak. Lighter cameras made photojournalism possible, including father and son's documentation of a centenarian which became the first photo illustrated magazine story. Paul was later to visit the Middle East using the Express Detective camera to create some of the first travel snapshots. For more of Nadar's story, please see this bio, and this wonderful article, and this National Library of France Nadar family website is amazing and has served me well with lots of facts and imagery. His memoir ) is a great read as well.
