The Nadars, a photographic legend

The Nadars

fr

Paul Nadar and Chevreul

Félix Nadar, between 1875 and 1895

Nadar studio sample album, from the "Album cards" series
Cardboard-mounted albumen print from a collodion glass negative, 14.5 x 10.5 cm.
BnF, Prints and Photographs Department, NA-238 (19)-FT 4
© Bibliothèque nationale de France
Although the 19th century was when images became newspapers' focal point, by late in the century, photographers had dethroned illustrators: the first photograph published in a newspaper was in Nadar's report about the chemist Chevreul in Le Journal illustré (1886). L’Illustration, which was soon publishing photography too (1896) and Le Miroir, founded in 1912 and "illustrated entirely by photography," often took advantage of pictures' ability to create news.