Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Tashkent Hose of Photography is hosting Exhibition “From Turkey to Turkistan, 1890” showcasing works by the French photographer Paul Nadar, organized by Victor Hugo French Cultural Centre with support from the Fund Forum and the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan. On display are 70 photos taken by Nadar during his trip to the Caucasus and Central Asia in 1890. The photos represent modern prints of his original negatives kept at the photo archives of the French Ministry of Culture.

Born in Paris in 1856, Paul Nadar was the son of the famous French photographer Felix Gaspard Tournachon known as Nadar, who photographed nineteenth-century Parisians, including Honoré de Balzac, Wagner and Baudelaire, over many decades, in a highly successful commercial venture.

In 1890, he undertook a long trip which brought him to a World Exhibition in Tashkent, the theme of the ongoing exhibition. He left Paris for Istanbul on a train and crossed the Black Sea. Having reached Batumi, he crosses the Caucasus through Tbilisi and Baku and arrives in Turkistan - present-day Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. He travels the region in two months and takes around 1,200 photos of crowds of people in the bazaars and markets of Asia, the great sandy spaces of deserts, mosques, mausoleums and all the majestic vestiges of the exotic Eastern influences.

Paul Nadar’s “photo reportage” is one the first in the history of photography. Nadar’s work environment, talent and professionalism ensured that Nadar produced high-quality works.

The exhibition will last until 6 October 2010.