Nadar

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, known by the pseudonym Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist and balloonist. He took the first aerial photographs in 1858, marking a breakthrough in the history of photography.

Nadar is best known for his photographic portraits, which are held by many of the great national collections of photographs. His work in the studio and his experiments with balloon photography defined his dual legacy as both a portraitist and a technical innovator.

Today, Nadar’s photographic oeuvre remains widely exhibited and collected, and his influence on the medium is recognized through major museum holdings and historical surveys of photography.