id: 151356 accession number: 1983.198 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.198 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:51.411000 Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870), 1855. Nadar (French, 1820–1910). Salted paper print from wet collodion negative; image: 23.8 x 17.8 cm (9 3/8 x 7 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1983.198 title: Alexandre Dumas père (1802-1870) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1855 creation date earliest: 1855 creation date latest: 1855 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: salted paper print from wet collodion negative department: Photography collection: PH - French 19th Century type: Photograph find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Nadar (French, 1820–1910) - artist Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) French, 1820-1910 Born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon in Paris, Nadar is probably the best known French photographer. His portraits of celebrities and public figures help define our impression of France in the second half of the 19th century; his panache in conducting his business helped popularize photography. Educated at the Collège Bourber, Paris (1833-36), Nadar moved to Lyon, where he studied medicine (1837-38) before continuing his studies at the Hôtel Dieu and the Bicêtre in Paris. He wrote satires and essays and drew caricatures (his pseudonym derived from his barbed wit aimed against the establishment) for a number of Paris publications, eventually founding several of his own, and was a highly visible figure in the city's cultural and artistic life. Learning photographic technique from Adophe Bertsch and Camille d'Arnaud, Nadar founded a studio in 1854. Twenty years later his son Paul, also a photographer, became director of the business and by 1886 headed the firm. He also worked for a time with his brother, Adrien, who sometimes called himself Nadar jeune, a practice which later prompted Nadar to file a lawsuit. Nadar's exploits with aerial balloon photography were of both photographic and historic importance. Below ground, he used artificial light to make surveys of the catacombs and sewers of Paris, novel and highly popular curiosities. With his son Paul as photographer, he is credited with the first photo-interview, conducted with the scientist and color theorist Michel-Eugène Chevreul on his 100th birthday in 1886. Because of the importance of his work and the notoriety of his sitters, among them Franz Liszt, George Sand, Sarah Bernhardt, and Honoré Balzac, Nadar will long occupy a key place in the development of photography. T.W.F. --- measurements: Image: 23.8 x 17.8 cm (9 3/8 x 7 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Written in brown ink on verso: "Dumas père."; in pencil on verso [faded or erased] "Nadar (5)"; "Dumas-5 [?]"; [and another mark, unclear] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1983 opening date: 1984-02-22T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984). title: Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum opening date: 1991-06-07T04:00:00 Object Lessons: Cleveland Creates an Art Museum. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 8, 1991). title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00 Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997). title: 19th-Century French Portrait Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2000-05-27T00:00:00 19th-Century French Portrait Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 27-August 9, 2000). title: Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art opening date: 2005-02-26T00:00:00 Drawn with Light: Pioneering French Photography from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 26-June 16, 2005). title: France at the Dawn of Photography opening date: 2009-10-04T00:00:00 France at the Dawn of Photography. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 4, 2009-January 24, 2010). title: Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century opening date: 2016-10-22T04:00:00 Cheating Death: Portrait Photography’s First Half Century. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 22, 2016-February 5, 2017). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum, July 20 - Oct. 10, 1999: "Nadar Warhol: Paris-New York: Photography and Fame," exhibition catalogue p. 57, repr. p. 56. (Also exhibited at The Andy Warhol Museum, Nov. 6, 1999 - Jan. 30, 2000 and the Baltimore Museum of Art, March 12 - May 28, 2000.)', 'opening_date': '1999-07-20T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE Bibliothèque Nationale date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Cleveland Museum of Art, and Tom E. Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. [Cleveland, OH]: The Museum, 1996. page number: p. 18-19 url: Turner, Evan H. "Year in Review for 1983." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 71, no. 2 (1984): 38-79. page number: p. 71, no. 99 repr. p. 71. url: www.jstor.org/stable/25159848 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.198/1983.198_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.198/1983.198_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.198/1983.198_full.tif