Nadar [Hardcover]

Maria Morris Hambourg (Author), Francoise Heilbrun (Author), Philippe Neagu (Author), Felix Nadar (Author), Musee D'Orsay (Corporate Author), Metropolitan Museum of Art (Corporate Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1995

Nadar (1820-1910), whose real name was Felix Tournachon, was a conspicuous, even astonishing presence in 19th-century France. Engaging and quick-witted, he invented himself over and over--as a bohemian writer, journalist, romantic utopian, caricaturist, photographer, and scientific innovator. This book catalogues nearly 200 of his finest works, 98 of them in color.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

New York's Metropolitan Museum pulls out all the stops in this magnificent treatment of the life and work of Fe{‚}lix Tournachon, the photographer self-named, and famous as, Nadar. A lively, energetic, creative machine in mid-nineteenth-century France, Nadar was a bohemian journalist, a caricaturist, a photographer, and a promoter of balloon flight. Never a good businessman, he let his enthusiasms exhaust his means in every enterprise. Although he lived until 1910, his best photographic portraits were made in the mid-1850s. He photographed, in images that possess remarkable presence even today, the notable artistic and literary personalities of midcentury France's romantic and republican heyday, when his temperament was in its glory. In the second empire, he increasingly felt out of place, and in his final projects--photographing the catacombs and sewers of Paris and sights observed from the gondola of his balloon, Ge{‚}ant his alienation from the Paris he had loved was literal as well as symbolic. This profusely illustrated document provides a fascinating picture of French public life at midcentury while delineating one of its foremost personalities. Gretchen Garner

From Book News

Nadar, whose real name was Felix Tournachon (1820-1910), was an entrepreneurial Frenchman who continually reinvented himself--as bohemian, writer, journalist, caricaturist, photographer, balloonist, and scientist. But he is remembered today for his photographic portraits, especially those of well-known writers, artists, and theater personalities--such as Baudelaire, Dumas, Daumier, Berlioz, George Sand, and Sarah Bernhardt--a number of whom were his friends. Accompanying an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of his portrait photography, this catalogue reproduces 99 photographs as stunning full-page plates (with another 112 smaller figures). Catalogue entries give short biographies of the subjects, while essays explore Nadar's diverse activities. 9.25x12.25" Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or. --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: Harry N Abrams; First Edition edition (April 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810964899
• ISBN-13: 978-0810964891
• Product Dimensions: 11.9 x 9 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,992,611 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)