Nadar — Selected Works

Nadar — @nadar

Xibit360 Curated Exhibition · Curated by Xibit360

Nadar photographed nineteenth-century Paris face by face. This room brings together his portraits of Alexandre Dumas, Charles Baudelaire, Gioachino Rossini, Gustave Doré and Édouard Manet, Pierrot Laughing (1855), the inflation of his giant balloon Le Géant, and a portrait of his wife, Ernestine. From the open-access collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art; every image is in the public domain.

Élie-Louis, duc Decazes (French statesman and diplomat, 1819-1886) — Nadar
No. 01

Élie-Louis, duc Decazes (French statesman and diplomat, 1819-1886)

Nadar — 1853

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Élie-Louis, duc Decazes (French statesman and diplomat, 1819-1886)

Nadar — 1853

24 × 19.4 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1877), volume 2

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Ernest Legouvé — Nadar
No. 02

Ernest Legouvé

Nadar — 1853

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Ernest Legouvé

Nadar — 1853

23.5 × 19.2 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1876), volume 3

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Eugène Pelletan — Nadar
No. 03

Eugène Pelletan

Nadar — 1855

Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Eugène Pelletan

Nadar — 1855

23.5 × 17.6 cm · Salted paper print from glass negative

Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Pierrot Laughing — Nadar
No. 04

Pierrot Laughing

Nadar — 1855

Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Pierrot Laughing

Nadar — 1855

27.3 × 19.8 cm · Gelatin-coated salted paper print (vernis-cuir)

Collection: The Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Alexandre Dumas père (1802–1870) — Nadar
No. 05

Alexandre Dumas père (1802–1870)

Nadar — 1855

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Alexandre Dumas père (1802–1870)

Nadar — 1855

Celebrities he photographed included his friend, the wildly successful French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, the author of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers . In 1874, Nadar loaned his studio to a group of artists so they could mount the first exhibition of Impressionist painting, which included works by Berthe Morisot.

23.8 × 17.8 cm · salted paper print from wet collodion negative

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Gustave Doré — Nadar
No. 06

Gustave Doré

Nadar — 1856

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Gustave Doré

Nadar — 1856

23.6 × 18.7 cm · Albumen print

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Portrait of Baudelaire — Nadar
No. 07

Portrait of Baudelaire

Nadar — 1856

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Portrait of Baudelaire

Nadar — 1856

Nadar made this portrait as a cabinet card. These slightly larger prints displaced cartes-de-visite in popularity around 1865. While somewhat more expensive, they were pursued nonetheless by those collecting celebrity portraits.

14.6 × 10.8 cm · albumen print, cabinet card

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Gioachino Antonio Rossini — Nadar
No. 08

Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Nadar — 1856

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Gioachino Antonio Rossini

Nadar — 1856

Rossini (1792–1868) is best known for the 39 operas he completed before his 39th birthday, including The Barber of Seville , Othello , and William Tell . An ardent gourmet who inspired dishes served to this day, his love of food is hinted at in this image by Nadar, one of the early and most successful portrait photographers. Nadar was obsessed with photographing (and selling portraits of) the celebrities of his time whether they be actors, politicians, or composers.

24.4 × 18.8 cm · salt print mounted on card

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Man on a Horse — Nadar
No. 09

Man on a Horse

Nadar — 1860

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Man on a Horse

Nadar — 1860

The genre of equestrian portraiture dates back to classical Greek and Roman antiquity, when it was used to depict rulers and suggest power and status. In the 19th century, members of the upper classes sometimes had their picture taken astride their horse. The rider here has been identified as Leonardus Antonius Lightenvelt, a Dutch statesman whose final position was as envoy to France, where this photograph was taken.

35.6 × 45.7 cm · albumen print from wet collodion negative

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Interior of Le Géant Inflating — Nadar
No. 10

Interior of Le Géant Inflating

Nadar — 1863

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Interior of Le Géant Inflating

Nadar — 1863

14.7 × 10.6 cm · Gelatin silver print

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Édouard Manet (French painter, 1832-1883) — Nadar
No. 11

Édouard Manet (French painter, 1832-1883)

Nadar — 1865

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Édouard Manet (French painter, 1832-1883)

Nadar — 1865

36.3 × 27.8 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1876), volume 1

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Francis Planté (French pianist, 1839-1934) — Nadar
No. 12

Francis Planté (French pianist, 1839-1934)

Nadar — 1865

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Francis Planté (French pianist, 1839-1934)

Nadar — 1865

23.9 × 19 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1878), volume 5

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor (Belgian playwright and travel writer, 1789-1878) — Nadar
No. 13

Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor (Belgian playwright and travel writer, 1789-1878)

Nadar — 1872

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Baron Isidore Justin Séverin Taylor (Belgian playwright and travel writer, 1789-1878)

Nadar — 1872

24 × 19.2 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1877), volume 4

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

Portrait of Ernestine Nadar, the artist's wife, wearing fur stole — Nadar
No. 14

Portrait of Ernestine Nadar, the artist's wife, wearing fur stole

Nadar — 1875

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

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Portrait of Ernestine Nadar, the artist's wife, wearing fur stole

Nadar — 1875

This striking and unusual uncut sheet of carte-de-visite exposures was taken by one of France’s most successful early portraitist photographers, Nadar. His wife Ernestine frequently modeled for him, including when he tried out new equipment or processes such as these gelatin silver prints. These portraits seem to be an intimate, direct exchange between sitter and camera, wife and husband.

10.8 × 21.9 cm · uncut sheet of three matte gelatin silver carte-de-visites

Collection: The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 · Source image

Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc (French architect, 1814-1879) — Nadar
No. 15

Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc (French architect, 1814-1879)

Nadar — 1878

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

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Eugène Viollet-Le-Duc (French architect, 1814-1879)

Nadar — 1878

23.1 × 18 cm · Woodburytype, from the periodical “Galerie Contemporaine Littéraire, Artistique” (1878), volume 5

Collection: The Art Institute of Chicago · CC0 · Source image

An exhibition Xibit360 made from public-domain works. It is not affiliated with the artist or with the collections credited.

Credits

About the artist

Nadar, the pseudonym of Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), was a French photographer, caricaturist, writer and balloonist, and the great portraitist of nineteenth-century Paris. In his studio he photographed the writers, painters, musicians and actors of his time — Baudelaire, Dumas, Rossini, Doré, Manet — against plain backgrounds and in natural light, seeking what he called the moral likeness of his sitters. He was the first to take aerial photographs from a balloon and to photograph the catacombs of Paris by electric light, and in 1874 he lent his studio to the first Impressionist exhibition.

Portrait: self-portrait · Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons