Nadar's name was Tournachon; he signed his caricatures with a nickname, and took up photography when it still belonged to the laboratory. He made of it an art of the portrait, and no one before him had photographed by artificial light, underground, in the sewers and the catacombs. In 1858 he went up in a balloon and brought back the first aerial views. During the siege, sixty-six balloons carried his mail.
The story
Gaspard Félix Tournachon was born in Paris in April 1820. A caricaturist, he signed with a nickname — Tournadar, worn down to Nadar — and took up photography while it was still a laboratory process.
He turned it into an art of portraiture: his studio on the boulevard des Capucines, opened in 1860, received Baudelaire, Hugo, Sarah Bernhardt, Manet. He was also the first to photograph by artificial light, in the catacombs and the sewers of Paris.
In 1858 he went up in a balloon and brought back the first aerial photographs ever taken. His ballooning inspired Jules Verne, who named his hero Michel Ardan — an anagram of Nadar.
During the siege of Paris in 1870 he founded the Balloon Corps: sixty-six balloons left the encircled city carrying two and a half million letters. It was the first airmail service.
In April 1874 he lent his studio to a group of painters the Salon had turned away: the first Impressionist exhibition was held in his rooms. He died on 21 March 1910 and lies in Division 36 with his wife and his son, the photographer Paul Nadar.
The grave
A stele on which three generations of Tournachons follow one another. The photographer's inscription gives his double name, that of the civil register and that of the trade: “Félix Tournachon Nadar”, followed by two dates — “1 April 1820” and “23 March 1910”. The first is five days out: the Archives de France have him born on 6 April. His wife Ernestine Constance, née Lefebvre, who died in 1909, and his son Paul Tournachon Nadar (1856-1939), a photographer like him, rest with him.
On site, do not miss
The engraved date of birth, “1 April 1820”: Félix Tournachon was born on the 6th. Beneath his own, the inscription of his son, a photographer like him.
Visitors' questions
Where is Nadar's grave?
In Division 36, avenue des Acacias, first row, in the central part of the cemetery — the same path as the bronze statue of Edmond About. His wife Ernestine and his son, the photographer Paul Nadar, rest with him.
Edmond AboutDid Nadar really take photographs from a balloon?
Yes, in 1858, from a balloon: these are the first aerial photographs in history. His adventures as a balloonist inspired Jules Verne, who named one of his heroes Michel Ardan — an anagram of Nadar.
Sophie BlanchardWhat is his connection with the Impressionists?
He lent them his studio on the boulevard des Capucines: the group's first exhibition was held there in April 1874, with Monet, Degas, Renoir and Pissarro, all rejected by the official Salon. It was there that the word “Impressionist” was born.
Camille PissarroIs there a mistake on his grave?
Yes, by five days: the stele has him born on 1 April 1820, whereas Félix Tournachon was born on the 6th. The Archives de France give 6 April — the photographer who fixed the faces of a whole century has a false date on his own stone.
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