Jules Verne 1878

Curator: Here we have Felix Nadar's portrait of Jules Verne, taken in 1878. It's a salt print, a process involving coating paper with egg white and silver nitrate to achieve that distinctive tone. Editor: Right away, the light captures him. There's such intelligence, such playful skepticism, flickering in his eyes. A touch of the sea captain, perhaps, tempered with a scholar's ink-stained fingers. Curator: Nadar's studio was known for its embrace of technology, like electric lighting. His success was linked to France's emerging industrial class, who clamored to have their portraits taken using such processes. The prints themselves also functioned almost as early promotional material. Editor: Knowing he crafted such futuristic worlds with quills and ink is wild when juxtaposed with the very grounded materiality of the photographic print. Imagine him seeing one of his fantastical imaginings manifest—submarine or space rocket—rendered using metal and steam. That collision feels inherent here. Curator: The photograph's composition certainly underscores his social standing, even subtly reinforces the link between intellectual pursuits and societal power structures through sartorial elements like his neat bow tie. These visual signifiers construct a clear image of Verne's cultural and economic position. Editor: His eyes betray the future he’s already seen. It makes me consider photography as both a document and as prophecy, of capturing what’s tangibly there, sure, but also glimpsing, maybe coaxing, the potentials that linger on the horizon of someone like Verne, whose stories would echo far into times he'd only dare to imagine. Curator: And Nadar himself helped create the myth of Verne and other luminaries he shot. The portraits became highly reproducible objects, available to a widening audience and therefore reinforcing a shared cultural legacy. Editor: Thinking about Nadar and Verne, each tinkering with perception through technology and story, it's oddly comforting to see them together, bound by light, ink, and paper, for all this time. Curator: Agreed, it's a valuable intersection of creative pursuits to contemplate. Editor: It certainly is.