At the turn of the century, the French artist Albert Matignon (1860-1937) became fascinated with opium. Matignon became somewhat well-known after painting Morphine in 1905. He was one of only a few artists who were bold enough to delve into drug and alcohol-related themes. By 1911, he had seen the seedier side of opiates. That year…
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Today’s post is about Nadar, the great French photographer and certainly one of the most interesting people I’ve come across. Nadar was born Gaspard-Félix Tournachon in Paris in April of 1820 to middle-class parents. His father was a publisher and bookseller, but not a very successful one. Victor Tournachon went broke in 1833 and died a…
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Over the weekend, I purchased an old mugshot, dated January 1900. I had no idea who George Seymour was when I bought it and found, to my surprise, he was once one of the most famous criminals in the country. If we begin with his arrest in Pittsburg in January 1900, we can assume this was…
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