The Thumbnail Book Reviews
by John Q McDonald --- 10 September 2020
by Adam Begley
Gaspard-Félix Tournachon lived through most of the 19th century. A big personality, with aspirations beyond the century's technology, he went by his nickname Nadar, which became a trademark for exquisite portrait photography and infamous ballooning adventures. There is hardly a historical work of that place and time that doesn't at least mention him, he was such a presence on the French cultural landscape. While his greatest talent lay in his photography, Nadar was impatient with his notable success. His career spanned cartooning, journalism and the early days of heavier-than-air flight. Rising from a middle class background as the son of a publisher, living the life of a penurious Bohemian, he would become the photographer of choice for the French literati and a number of nobles and denizens of the monde.
In this brief exuberant biography, Adam Begley, who obviously adores his subject, takes us at a breezy pace through Nadar's various careers. Lightly illustrated with Nadar's cartoons and photography, the reader wades in the shallows of some of France's most jarring historical and political events. This is appropriate to the man, though, as he somehow managed to float above the fray, perhaps because of his boisterous charm and ability to rub elbows with people of widely varying political and professional classes. He survives monarchy and empire, republic and commune, hardly leaving Paris except to lead an ill-fated and quixotic military expedition to Poland. The invention of high quality photographic techniques spawned a craze for portraiture and the innovation of photographic visiting cards. There were scores of photographers operating in Paris. Nadar was profoundly talented at portraiture, and he'd be the fist to say so. His pictures express an artistic eye and technique far superior to the standard stiff-necked poses common in his day. His subjects are lively and full of personality. The results have a modern feel even now, a century and a half later. But Nadar could not resist novelty in his life, eventually launching a project of building the world's largest balloon, one that would crash spectacularly in the German countryside, injuring his long-suffering wife. His skills, however, would prove life-saving during the seige of Paris in 1870. The following year, he would somehow endure the Paris commune and come out the other side as a noted cultural figure. Nevertheless, he regularly struggled with finances, engaged in numerous lawsuits with competitors including both his brother and his son, and depended upon the investments of his many acquaintances.
Nadar left a legacy of photographic art and a thoroughly modern approach to notoriety and fame. There is much that we coast through in this history. As big as the man's personality was, there are character elements we don't completely get, particularly with the relationship with his wife. Just how did Nadar avoid the politial repercussons of his day? Still, Begley closes this book with a long appendix in which he expands upon Nadar's souvenir album, signed by his many famous clients and friends. Through this notebook, full of sketches, poems, bits of musical notation, wry remarks and admiration, Begley illustrates a cross section of the people who passed through Nadar's studio, though with the notable absence of Nadar's lifelong friend, George Sand. There is an elegiac feel in this appendix though. This is a remarkable era in French history, so much of which is lost to time. With Nadar's photographs, we can at least visit with the people and imagine what their lives may have been like.
Also by Adam Begley: [Updike]