Nadar. Bibliothèque Nationale, 1965. Exhibit catalog.

Catalog for a major exhibit with 410 items, some illustrated. Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820-1910), known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French portrait photographer, caricaturist, journalist, and aviation pioneer who took the first aerial photographs from a balloon. Very good, lightly soiled on rear cover, small spot of wear lower right corner of front cover. Wraps, text in French. 

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), universally known by his pseudonym Nadar, was a pioneering French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, and balloonist who became one of the defining figures of 19th-century visual culture. Born in Paris, Nadar initially worked as a writer and political cartoonist, gaining acclaim for his Panthéon Nadar (1854), a massive lithographic compilation featuring caricatures of prominent contemporary intellectuals and artists. Opening a fashionable portrait studio in Paris during the 1850s, he revolutionized psychological portraiture by abandoning painted backdrops, elaborate props, and formal poses in favor of soft natural light, simple dark backgrounds, and intense focus on the character and presence of his sitters, capturing definitive portraits of figures such as Charles Baudelaire, Victor Hugo, Sarah Bernhardt, George Sand, and Édouard Manet. A restless innovator, Nadar made photographic history in 1858 by taking the world's first aerial photographs from a tethered hot-air balloon over Paris, as well as pioneering artificial electric lighting to photograph the Parisian catacombs and sewers in the early 1860s. Generous to the avant-garde art scene, he hosted the historic First Impressionist Exhibition in his studio on the Boulevard des Capucines in 1874. Today, Nadar's vast legacy and original glass negatives are preserved in major French national archives, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Musée d'Orsay, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Nadar (1965) is an exhibition catalog published by the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, France. The publication was curated to document a major retrospective honoring Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), the legendary French photographer, caricaturist, and journalist widely known by his singular pseudonym, Nadar.

Featuring introductory text by Étienne Dennery, the esteemed administrator-general of the Bibliothèque Nationale, the catalog stands as an essential institutional review of Nadar’s pioneering impact on 19th-century visual culture.

Core Themes & Content

• A Comprehensive Historical Index: The catalog serves as a rigorous visual and textual directory, cataloging 410 items featured in the physical retrospective. It traces Nadar's multi-faceted career from his early sketches to his revolutionary work behind the lens.

• The Pantheon of 19th-Century Celebrity: The core of the volume outlines Nadar’s definitive mastery of portraiture. It logs his iconic, character-driven photographs of Europe’s creative and intellectual elite—capturing the raw essence of cultural radicals such as Charles Baudelaire, Eugène Delacroix, George Sand, Sarah Bernhardt, and Victor Hugo.

• Technological Innovation and Aviation: Beyond studio portraiture, the publication details Nadar's daring work as a technical vanguard and enthusiastic aeronaut. The catalog documents his history-making achievements, including:

  • The Dawn of Aerial Photography: Capturing the world's very first aerial photographs from the basket of a tethered hot-air balloon over Paris.

  • Subterranean Exploration: His early, experimental use of artificial electric light to map and photograph the Paris Catacombs and sewers.

• The Caricaturist’s Eye: The catalog tracks Nadar's bohemian roots in the Parisian press. It indexes his lithographic masterwork, the Panthéon Nadar, a massive collective caricature compiling hundreds of contemporary writers, artists, and journalists into unified satirical prints.

The 1965 Nadar catalog elevates a legendary figure past the simple definition of a portraitist. Through the Bibliothèque Nationale's vast archival lens, the publication frames Nadar as a consummate 19th-century entrepreneur, technology innovator, and conceptual visionary who fundamentally mapped the creative soul of Paris while breaking the physical and technological boundaries of early photography.