View source for Nadar

{{Short description|French photographer and balloonist (1820–1910)}}
{{Other uses|Nadar (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Nadar
| image              = Self-portrait of Nadar.jpg
| caption            = Self-portrait, {{circa|1860}}
| birth_name         = Gaspard-Félix Tournachon
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=y|1820|04|05}}
| birth_place        = [[Paris]], [[Bourbon Restoration in France|France]]
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=y|1910|03|20|1820|04|06}}
| death_place        = [[Paris]], [[French Third Republic|France]]
| resting_place      = [[Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
| resting_place_coordinates = {{coord|48.860|2.396|type:landmark|display=inline}}
| occupation         = {{hlist|Photographer|[[caricaturist]]|journalist|novelist|[[balloon (aircraft)|balloonist]]}}
| known_for          = Pioneer in photography
| spouse             = <!-- Use article title or common name -->
| partner            = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) -->
| children           = [[Paul Nadar]]
| father             = [[Victor Tournachon]]
| signature          = SigNadar.svg
}}

'''Gaspard-Félix Tournachon''' ({{IPA|fr|ɡaspaʁ feliks tuʁnaʃɔ̃|lang}}; 5 April 1820 – 20 March 1910<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65639070/f166.image|title=La Mort de Nadar|journal=[[l'Aérophile]]|date=1 April 1910|page= 194|language=fr}}</ref>), known by the pseudonym '''Nadar''' ({{IPA|fr|nadaʁ|lang}}) or '''Félix Nadar'',''''' was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist who was a proponent of [[History of aviation#Heavier than air|heavier-than-air flight]]. In 1858, he became the first person to take [[aerial photograph]]s.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title=These Incredible Images Show How Aerial Photography Has Developed |url=https://time.com/longform/aerial-photography-drones-history/ |access-date=17 July 2022 |magazine=Time |language=en}}</ref> 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)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Jenner |first=Greg |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z4SQDwAAQBAJ |title=Dead Famous: An Unexpected History of Celebrity from Bronze Age to Silver Screen |date=19 March 2020 |publisher=Orion |isbn=978-0-297-86981-8 |pages=213 |language=en}}</ref> was born in early April 1820 in Paris,<ref name="Lambiek">{{cite web |title=Félix Nadar Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (6 April 1820 – 23 March 1910, France) |url=https://www.lambiek.net/artists/n/nadar.htm |website=Lambiek Comiclopedia |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref> 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.<ref name="archivesdefrance"/><ref name="Lambiek"/>

Nadar started working as a caricaturist and novelist for various newspapers. He fell in with the Parisian bohemian group of [[Gérard de Nerval]], [[Charles Baudelaire]], and [[Théodore de Banville]]. His friends picked a nickname for him, perhaps by a playful habit of adding "dar" to the end of words, Tournadar, which later became Nadar.<ref name="archivesdefrance">{{Cite web|title = Archives de France {{!}}|url = http://www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr/action-culturelle/celebrations-nationales/brochure-2010/beaux-arts/nadar|website = www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr|access-date = 15 October 2015|language = fr}}</ref> 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''.<ref name="Lambiek"/>

[[File:Atelier Nadar 35BoulevardDesCapucines 1860 Nadar.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Nadar's studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in 1860.|Nadar's studio at 35 Boulevard des Capucines in 1860.]]

From work as a caricaturist, he moved on to photography. He took his first photographs in 1853, and in 1854 opened a photographic studio at 113 rue St. Lazare.<ref name="archivesdefrance" /> In 1860 he moved to 35 Boulevard des Capucines. Nadar photographed a wide range of personalities: politicians ([[François Guizot|Guizot]], [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon|Proudhon]]), stage actors ([[Sarah Bernhardt]], [[Paulus (singer)|Paulus]]), writers ([[Victor Hugo|Hugo]], [[Charles Baudelaire|Baudelaire]], [[George Sand|Sand]], [[Gérard de Nerval|Nerval]], [[Théophile Gautier|Gautier]], [[Alexandre Dumas|Dumas]]), painters ([[Camille Corot|Corot]], [[Eugène Delacroix|Delacroix]], [[Jean-François Millet|Millet]]), and musicians ([[Franz Liszt|Liszt]], [[Gioachino Rossini|Rossini]], [[Jacques Offenbach|Offenbach]], [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]], [[Hector Berlioz|Berlioz]]).<ref name="archivesdefrance"/> Portrait photography was going through a period of native industrialization, and Nadar refused to use the traditional sumptuous decors; he preferred natural daylight and despised what he considered to be unnecessary accessories. In 1886, with his son Paul, he did what may be the first photo-report: an interview with the great scientist [[Michel Eugène Chevreul]], who at the time was 100 years old.<ref name="Chevreul">{{cite news |title="Le Journal Illustré" Publishes the First Photo-Interview 9/5/1886 |url=http://www.historyofinformation.com/detail.php?id=3310 |access-date=12 November 2019 |work=History of Information}}</ref> It was published in ''Le Journal Illustré''.<ref name="archivesdefrance"/>

[[File:Balloon flown by 3197xn272 0 6d56zx84t.tiff|thumb|right|Balloon ''Le Geant'' flown by Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (Nadar), 1863]]
[[File:Felix Nadar in the basket of a balloon, self-portrait, btv1b532323066.jpg|thumb|Studio portrait of Nadar in a balloon basket, {{Circa|1863}}]]

In 1858, he became the first person to take [[aerial photograph]]s. This was done using the [[Collodion process|wet plate collodion process]], and since the plates had to be prepared and developed (a process that required a chemically neutral setting) while the basket was aloft, Nadar experienced imaging problems as gas escaped from his balloons. After Nadar invented a gas-proof cotton cover and draped it over his balloon baskets, he was able to capture stable images.<ref name="Holmes">{{cite book|last=Holmes|first=Richard|title=Falling upwards : how we took to the air|year=2013|publisher=HarperPress|location=London|isbn=978-0-00-738692-5}}</ref>{{rp|159}} 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]].<ref name="Lambiek"/> In 1867, he published the first magazine to focus on air travel: ''L'Aéronaute''.<ref name="Lambiek"/>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="200px">
File:Honoré Daumier, Nadar élevant la Photographie à la hauteur de l'Art, 1862, NGA 42966.jpg|''Nadar élevant la Photographie à la hauteur de l'Art'' ("Nadar elevating Photography to Art"). Lithograph by [[Honoré Daumier]].
File:Henry de Montaut, Petit, Catastrophe du ballons Le Géant. - La nacelle rasant le sol à Nieubourg (Hanovre). - D`après les renseignements fournis par M. Nadar. Gravure 1863.jpg|1863: Disaster with ''Le Géant'' at [[Neustadt am Rübenberge]] at [[Hanover]]. Illustration in a newspaper
</gallery>

In 1863, Nadar commissioned the prominent balloonist [[Eugène Godard]] to construct an enormous balloon, {{convert|196|ft|m|order=flip}} high and with a capacity of {{convert|6000|m3|ft3|abbr=on}}, and named ''Le Géant'' (The Giant).<ref name="Holmes"/>{{rp|164}}
On his visit to [[Brussels]] with ''Le Géant'', on 26 September 1864, Nadar erected mobile barriers to keep the crowd at a safe distance. [[Crowd control barrier]]s are still known in Belgium as ''Nadar barriers''.<ref name="Lambiek"/>
''Le Géant'' was badly damaged at the end of its second flight, but Nadar rebuilt the gondola and the envelope, and continued his flights. In 1867, he was able to take as many as a dozen passengers aloft at once, serving cold chicken and wine.<ref name="Hallion">{{cite book
 | last = Hallion
 | first = Richard P
 | author-link=Richard P. Hallion
 | year = 2003
 | title = Taking Flight: Inventing the Aerial Age, from Antiquity through the First World War
 | publisher = Oxford University Press
 | isbn = 0-19-516035-5
 | url=https://archive.org/details/takingflightinve0000hall | url-access = registration
 |page=[https://archive.org/details/takingflightinve0000hall/page/71 71]-73
}}</ref>

For publicity, he recreated balloon flights in his studio with his wife, Ernestine, using a rigged-up balloon gondola.<ref>"[https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/286163 Nadar with His Wife, Ernestine, in a Balloon]", The Metropolitan Museum of Art.</ref> He stayed a passionate aeronaut until he and Ernestine were injured in an accident in ''Le Géant''.<ref>"[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Nadar Nadar]", Encyclopedia Britannica.</ref>

[[File:Nadar autoportrait tournant.gif|thumb|{{Circa|1865}}: ''"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 [[Michel Ardan|Michael Ardan]] in Verne's ''[[From the Earth to the Moon]]''.<ref name="Holmes"/>{{rp|164}}<ref name="Luftmensch">{{Cite news |last1=Holmes |first1=Richard |title=Luftmensch in Paris |work=[[The New York Review of Books]] |date=24 May 2018 |url=https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/05/24/felix-nadar-luftmensch-in-paris/ |issn=0028-7504 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930231452/https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2018/05/24/felix-nadar-luftmensch-in-paris/ |archive-date= 30 September 2020 }}</ref><ref name="archivesdefrance"/> In 1862, Verne and Nadar established a ''Société pour la recherche de la navigation aérienne'', which later became ''La Société d'encouragement de la locomotion aérienne au moyen du plus lourd que l'air'' (The Society for the Encouragement of Aerial Locomotion by Means of Heavier than Air Machines).<ref name="Hallion"/>{{rp|123}} Nadar served as president and Verne as secretary.<ref name="Miller">{{cite book |last1=Miller |first1=Roland |title=Abandoned in place : preserving America's space history |date=18 January 2016 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0826356253 |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RfA0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA3 |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref>

During the [[Siege of Paris (1870-1871)|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.<ref name="Holmes"/>{{rp|260}}<ref name="archivesdefrance"/><ref name="Hallion"/>

In April 1874, he lent his photo studio to a group of painters to present the [[First Impressionist Exhibition|first exhibition]] of the [[Impressionism|Impressionists]].<ref name="Gersh-Nesic">{{cite journal |last1=Gersh-Nesic |first1=Beth |title=How the First Impressionist Exhibition Came to Be |journal=Thought Co. |date=23 September 2019 |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/the-first-impressionist-exhibition-183013 |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref> He photographed [[Victor Hugo]] on his death-bed in 1885.<ref>{{cite web |title=Victor Hugo on his Death Bed |url=https://www.philamuseum.org/collections/permanent/332558.html |website=Philadelphia Museum of Art |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref> He is credited with having published (in 1886) the first ''photo-interview'' (of famous chemist [[Michel Eugène Chevreul]], then a centenarian).<ref name="Chevreul"/> His photographs of women are notable for their natural poses and individual character.<ref name="Hambourg">{{cite book |last1=Hambourg |first1=Maria Morris |title=Nadar |date=1995 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=9780810964891 |pages=50–51 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nq-fH1ekue4C&pg=PA50 |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref> Nadar was recognized for breaking the conventions of photographic [[portrait]], choosing to capture the subjects as active participants.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Smith |first=Ian Haydn |title=The short story of photography : a pocket guide to key genres, works, themes & techniques |date=2018 |publisher=Laurence King Publishing |isbn=978-1-78627-201-0 |location=London |oclc=1002114117}}</ref>

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.<ref name="Nadar">{{cite book |last1=Nadar |first1=Félix |title=When I Was a Photographer |date=6 November 2015 |publisher=MIT Press |pages=234–235 |isbn=9780262330725 |edition=1st English translation |translator-first1=Eduardo |translator-last1=Cadava |translator-first2=Liana |translator-last2=Theodoratou |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHn6CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA234 |access-date=12 November 2019}}</ref>

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).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.milhist.net/docs/intellrev.html|title=Question of Trieste}}</ref>

==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.<ref name="Guardian">Adam Begley, [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/dec/23/books-felix-nadar-france-photography-flight "The absurd life of Félix Nadar, French portraitist and human flight advocate"], ''The Guardian'', 23 December 2015.</ref><ref name="Begley">{{Cite book |last1=Begley |first1=Adam |title=The Great Nadar: The Man Behind the Camera |date=11 July 2017 |isbn=978-1-101-90260-8 |publisher=Tim Duggan Books |location=New York }}</ref>

The painter [[Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres]] sent some of his clients to Nadar to have their photographs taken as studies for his paintings.<ref>{{cite book |last1=De la Croix |first1=Horst |last2=Tansey |first2=Richard G. |last3=Kirkpatrick |first3=Diane |title=Gardner's Art Through the Ages |date=1991 |publisher=Thomson/Wadsworth |isbn=0-15-503769-2 |edition=9th |page=[https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/910 910] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/gardnersartthrou00gard/page/910 }}</ref>

===Gallery===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="200">
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 (1863)|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]], {{c.|1864}}
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]], {{c.|1895}}
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 (singer)|Maria Martínez]]<ref name="NadarCite">{{cite web |last1=Childs |first1=Adrienne L. |title=Le Modèle noir de Géricault à Matisse |url=http://www.19thc-artworldwide.org/autumn19/childs-reviews-le-modele-noir-de-gericault-a-matisse |access-date=13 January 2024 |website=Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide}}</ref>
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Prix Nadar]], French [[photojournalism]] prize given in Nadar's name
* [[Mononymous person#History|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==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons}}
* {{Gutenberg author |id=33231}}
* {{Internet Archive author |search=( Félix AND (Nadar OR Tournachon OR "1820–1910") )}}
* [http://greatcaricatures.com/articles_galleries/gill/galleries/html/1867_0602_nadar.html 1867 Caricature of Nadar by André Gill]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929104523/http://www.eff.org/Misc/Publications/Bruce_Sterling/Catscan_columns/catscan.12 Article about Nadar] by [[Bruce Sterling]]
* [http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2014/03/the-heights-and-depths-of-nadar-tldr-version Article about Nadar] by Roger Cicala
* [https://www.fostinum.org/nadar.html Fostinum: Nadar] numerous photographs by Nadar
* [https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/artist/2170/ Gaspard-Félix Tournachon Nadar] at the [[National Gallery of Victoria]] (NGV), Melbourne, Australia

{{EarlyFrenchPhotographers|state=expanded}}
{{Impressionism}}
{{ACArt}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nadar}}
[[Category:Pioneers of photography]]
[[Category:1820 births]]
[[Category:1910 deaths]]
[[Category:Aerial photographers]]
[[Category:French balloonists]]
[[Category:French caricaturists]]
[[Category:French magazine cartoonists]]
[[Category:French portrait photographers]]
[[Category:Artists from Paris]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Lycée Condorcet alumni]]
[[Category:19th-century French photographers]]
[[Category:20th-century French photographers]]
[[Category:Pseudonymous photographers]]