Nadar (Gaspard-Félix Tournachon, 1820-1910) was the most influential photographer of his generation, often cited as the first to raise the medium to the level of art. He is perhaps most famous for his series of outstanding portraits made between the mid-1850s and the 1870s, in which he created a lasting and affecting image of the French cultural élite. His concentration on faces and his Romantic glorification of the individual were crucial elements in his successful style.