When little Gaspard Félix Tornachon, known as Nadar, was born in Paris in 1820, Joseph Mongolfier, inventor of the hot air balloon, was treating rheumatism in Balarocles-Bann, and Napoleon Bonaparte was wondering, on the island of Saint Helena, whether his ulcer had worsened in Waterloo...
When he died in 1910, General Charles de Gaulle was a graduate of the École Saint-Cyr, and Louis Bleriot had crossed the English Channel by plane...How can one resist the desire to follow in the footsteps of this man, fond of freedom and justice, eloquent and committed witness to the historical and artistic upheavals of his time?
The author here rejects the usual objective approach to Nadar as a photographer, cartoonist, writer, or pilot, and offers a biography of the man whose Republican commitment was unwavering.
