Honoré Daumier was a prolific draftsman, printmaker, and caricaturist, whose works satirized political and social life in France in the 19th century. This caricature of Parisian photographer Félix Nadar (born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) appeared in Le Boulevard on May 25, 1862. Daumier’s composition presents Nadar aloft in his self-designed hot air balloon nicknamed Le Géant (“The Giant”), from which he made the world’s first aerial photographs. Daumier’s characteristic wit is conveyed in the detail of Nadar’s hat, which escapes unnoticed in the excitement and intensity of the photographer’s concentration. Daumier’s caption, “Nadar, raising Photography to the height of Art,” is also a clever pun, alluding both to Nadar’s literal elevation above the city of Paris, and to the prevalent debate in the 19th century about whether photography could be considered a fine art.Now on view in the exhibition, Artists on Artists. Image:Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)Nadar, elevant la Photographie a la hauteur de l’Art, 1862Lithograph R.T. Miller, Jr. Fund, 1995.4 
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Honoré Daumier was a prolific draftsman, printmaker, and caricaturist, whose works satirized political and social life in France in the 19th century. This caricature of Parisian photographer Félix Nadar (born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon) appeared in Le Boulevard on May 25, 1862. Daumier’s composition presents Nadar aloft in his self-designed hot air balloon nicknamed Le Géant (“The Giant”), from which he made the world’s first aerial photographs. Daumier’s characteristic wit is conveyed in the detail of Nadar’s hat, which escapes unnoticed in the excitement and intensity of the photographer’s concentration. Daumier’s caption, “Nadar, raising Photography to the height of Art,” is also a clever pun, alluding both to Nadar’s literal elevation above the city of Paris, and to the prevalent debate in the 19th century about whether photography could be considered a fine art.

Now on view in the exhibition, Artists on Artists. 

Image:
Honoré Daumier (French, 1808-1879)
Nadar, elevant la Photographie a la hauteur de l’Art, 1862
Lithograph
R.T. Miller, Jr. Fund, 1995.4 

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