Adrien was the younger brother of Félix Tournachon, the well-known artist and caricaturist whose work appeared in numerous satirical newspapers under the pseudonym, Nadar. The two became embroiled in a legal battle over the exclusive right to the name "Nadar." Félix had arranged for Adrien, a painter, to learn the photographic process and then to open his own photographic studio. When the business began to fail the two collaborated, and Félix supplied financial backing, contacts, and his pseudonym. Adrien asked Félix to relinquish his share in the studio and continued the practice alone using the name "Nadar jeune," which prompted Félix to take legal action. After the court ruled that Félix was "the only, the true Nadar," Adrien turned his attention to photographing animals.