114. Nadar Raising Photography to the Height of Art. Honore Daumier. 1862 CE Lithograph.

• Content
  • Nadar often took his balloon over Paris to photograph scenes from above
  • Daumier was a satiric artist who portrayed political and social events with a critical eye
• Function
  • Originally appeared in a journal, Le Boulevard, as a mass-produced lithograph
• Context
  • The print satirizes the claims that photography can be a “high art;” irony implied in title
  • Nadar was famous for taking aerial photos of Paris beginning in 1858
  • The work was executed after a court decision in 1862 that determined that photographs could be considered works of art; this is Daumier’s commentary
  • Presents Nadar as a silly photographer; in his excitement to get a daring shot he almost falls out of his balloon and loses his hat
  • Photography used as a military tool: Nadar’s balloon reused in the 1870 siege of Paris
  • Every building has the word “Photographie” on it; foreshadows modern surveillance photographs, drones with cameras, Google earth