[Self-Portrait in Costume]

Nadar

1862–64 · Salted paper print from glass negative · Photographs

In the early 1860s, the famous portrait photographer Nadar was spotted at Parisian soirées decked out in an odd outfit—a mash-up of fanciful indigenous North American dress and a retro, full-bottomed baroque wig—a get-up referred to in the contemporary press as an “eskimo costume from the Sundays of Louis XIV.” Undoubtedly harking back to weekend balls held at Versailles during the reign of Louis the Great, Nadar’s weird evening wear permitted the self-aggrandizing photographer, a fervent republican, to capitalize on the romantic notion of the noble savage even while thumbing his nose at imperialist policies that endangered Native peoples.

Artist

Nadar

Date

1862–64

Medium

Salted paper print from glass negative

Department

Photographs

Credit line

Gilman Collection, Purchase, Harriette and Noel Levine Gift, 2005