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Conference
Nadar, the art of portraiture
Saturday, January 25, 2025
Conference presented by Léa Lefebvre
Gaspard Félix Tournachon, known as Nadar, embraced his era and embodied the spirit of the 19th century: a modernity of fantasy and experimentation. A fervent portraitist and caricaturist, he was passionate about a new medium, photography, which he helped to elevate to the level of an art form. Nadar explored the feeling of light, immortalizing the moral intelligence of his subjects, capturing their intimacy and eternal glances: his 19th-century portraits remain part of our collective memory.
Nadar was one of the greatest photographers of his time. He transformed photography into the art of the moment, long before our selfies.
In the press, the artist caricatured the celebrities of the day with a great sense of detail. Then Nadar took up photography. He quickly became a portrait genius in a society where images were increasingly important.
Presentation of the speaker
Léa Lefebvre
Léa Lefebvre teaches History of Contemporary Art and History of Photography at Sciences Po Aix.
A graduate in Art History from Université Paris-Nanterre and in Cultural Policies and Political Science from Sciences Po Aix, she has focused her studies on the notion of subversion. In her writing and research, Léa Lefebvre apprehends the world through the prism of intersecting social, political and artistic contexts.
She has worked as a studio manager in a gallery, is editor and artistic coordinator for a digital magazine (La Zone), and co-founded a collective of artists and curators, dedicated to the production of immersive works and scenographies, as well as curating exhibitions. She accompanies young artists in their practice, notably by writing texts on their productions and approaches.
