Because Adrien Tournachon's photography was enmeshed with that of his brother Félix (Nadar) from the beginning, and because the reports we have of his activities are principally the derogatory ones Félix made after the brothers' disagreement, Adrien's work has been largely dismissed. Clearly envious of the success of his charismatic older brother, Adrien appears to have been unreliable and manipulative, and alternately querulous and boastful. But despite an unfortunate character he possessed real talent, as witnessed by this striking self-portrait. The photograph represents Adrien at about age thirty, when he was attempting to rival his brother. It shows a sensitive and curiously sly man--a poseur in an artist's sketching hat and smock. Disarming in its casualness, the portrait is also seductive, perhaps because the unforthcoming person who regards the viewer is simultaneously withholding and engaging--and consequently an enigmatic repository for reveries.
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Title:[Self-Portrait]
Artist:Adrien Tournachon (French, 1825–1903)
Date:ca. 1855
Medium:Salted paper print from glass negative
Dimensions:Image: 23.6 x 17.6 cm (9 5/16 x 6 15/16 in.) Mount: 32.4 x 21.2 cm (12 3/4 x 8 3/8 in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Gilman Collection, Purchase, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Gift, through Joyce and Robert Menschel, 2005
Object Number:2005.100.44
Inscription: Inscribed in pencil on mount, recto TL: "11"
Jean Dietele; [Galerie Texbraun, Paris]; Gilman Paper Company Collection, New York, purchased February 4, 1982
Museum of Modern Art, New York. "Self Portrait: The Photographer's Persona 1840–1985," November 7, 1985–January 7, 1986.
National Portrait Gallery, London. "Staging the Self: Self-Portrait Photography 1840s-1980s," October 3, 1986–January 11, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," May 25–July 4, 1993.
Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh, Scotland. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," August 7–October 2, 1993.
Musée d'Orsay. "Nadar," June 7–September 11, 1994.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," June 19–September 11, 1994.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 18," September 8–December 8, 1997.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Photography from the Gilman Paper Company Collection," February 26–May 23, 1999.
J. Paul Getty Museum. "Nadar Warhol," July 20, 1999–October 10, 1999.
Andy Warhol Museum. "Nadar Warhol," November 6, 1999–January 30, 2000.
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Nadar Warhol," March 12, 2000–May 28, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 27," September 18, 2000–January 7, 2001.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Master Photographs from the Gilman Collection: A Landmark Acquisition," June 28–September 6, 2005.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 41b," October 3, 2005–January 8, 2006.
Bibliothèque nationale de France. "Les Nadar," October 16, 2018–February 3, 2019.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin: Recent Acquisitions, A Selection: 2004-2005 p. 35.
Apraxine, Pierre. Photographs from the Collection of the Gilman Paper Company. Reeds Springs, Mo.: White Oak Press, 1985. pl. 25.
Lingwood, James, ed. Staging the Self: Self-Portrait Photography, 1840s–1880s. London: National Portrait Gallery, London, 1986. p. 19.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Pierre Apraxine, Malcolm Daniel, Virginia Heckert, and Jeff L. Rosenheim. The Waking Dream: Photography's First Century, Selections from the Gilman Paper Company Collection. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. no. 59.
Hambourg, Maria Morris, Françoise Heilbrun, and Paul Néagu. Nadar. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. no. 27.
Aubenas, Sylvie, and Anne Lacoste. Les Nadar: Une légende photographique. Paris: Bibliothèque nationale de France, 2018. no. 41, p. 147.
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![[Self-Portrait], Adrien Tournachon (French, 1825–1903), Salted paper print from glass negative](/Rodan/dist/svg/rolling-0.9s-30px.svg)
