The Great Nadar: The Man Behind the Camera

Gaspard-Félix Tournachon (1820–1910), the Great Nadar, was a French photographer, caricaturist, journalist, novelist, balloonist, and colorful self-promoter. Working in the catacombs of Paris, he pioneered the use of artificial lighting and was reportedly the first to make aerial photographs. Among his works are portraits of the finest artists, authors, and musicians of the day, including Charles Baudelaire, Sarah Bernhardt, Louis Daguerre, Claude Debussy, Eugène Delacroix, Alexandre Dumas, Franz Liszt, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Rodin, George Sand, Emile Zola, and many others. Nadar's photography is held by many renowned collections and art museums. In this meticulously researched narrative, former New York Observer books editor and author Begley (Updike) captures the spirit of the man who inspired Jules Verne's Five Weeks in a Balloon and who became the model for a character in Verne's From the Earth to the Moon. Told in a pleasant, conversational style, this title is not only filled with curious, whimsical details about a lively figure, it is also is a very readable narrative.