March 1, 2008
Félix Nadar, “Interior of Le Géant Inflating” (1863)
A glancing acquaintance with the work of nineteenth-century photographer and aeronaut Félix Nadar encompasses his ‘celebrity’ portraits: those of Charles Baudelaire, George Sand, Sarah Bernhardt et al. Closer fellowship might include his aerial photographs and images of hot-air balloons, including his own Géant. Intimacy might admit this phenomenal glimpse from within of Le Géant. (Source: Art Institute of Chicago.)
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8 Responses to “Félix Nadar, “Interior of Le Géant Inflating” (1863)”
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great Sheila, thanks, on first glance that bottom texture looked like a swarming school of fishes swimming in to a net… or the future
I wondered what the Hell this was until I realized the link with hot air ballons. I love the misterious quality’s of old prints. I’d love to be able to recreate them (without all the hassle of using wet plates).
beautiful.
Right at the vanishing point is a fish messiah who has promised the fishes a watery paradise, and they are all wriggling their way toward that promise.
Either that, or toward a false fish messiah who casts an enormous net.
(Inspired by Alek to envision fishes, I think I may have ripped this off — partially — from the chapter treating of Grandpa and the literate herring in Ivor Cutler’s Life in a Scotch Sitting Room.)
well then there’s the dolphins who drive fish into nets for a portion of the catch… wrote a story about that once
The bonds among mammals (humans . . . dolphins et cetera) are powerful indeed.
lovely photograph.
[...] A glancing acquaintance with the work of nineteenth-century photographer and aeronaut Félix Nadar encompasses his ‘celebrity’ portraits: those of Charles Baudelaire, George Sand, Sarah Bernhardt et al. Closer fellowship might include his aerial photographs and images of hot-air balloons, including his own Géant. Intimacy might admit this phenomenal glimpse from within of Le Géant. (Source: Art Institute of Chicago.) [via Link] [...]