French Literature Reviews - 2026

É. Michaud, Les invasions barbares. Une généalogie de l'histoire de l'art
Art and Visual Culture

Les invasions barbares - Une généalogie de l'histoire de l'art
Eric Michaud

Publication date: 05/11/2015 Publisher: Gallimard (Editions) Series: NRF Essais ISBN: 978-2-07-012265-3 EAN: 9782070122653 Format: Paperback No. of pages: 320 p.

Art history began with the barbarian invasions. Around 1800, these invasions suddenly came to be seen as the pivotal event through which the West entered modernity: the fresh blood of Northern races, while preserving the old, was said to have brought forth a new art—necessarily anti-Roman and anti-classical—whose legacy was still evident in Europe. This fantastical narrative, inseparable from the formation of nation-states and the rise of European nationalism, was built on the dual premise of the homogeneity and continuity of "foreign" peoples, quickly subjugating artistic styles to the dictates of blood and race.

Art history linked its objects to racial groups by relying on a few visible peculiarities: sometimes their "tactile" or "optical" qualities branded them as "Latin" or "Germanic," while at other times the predominance of linear elements betrayed a Southern origin, just as the "pictorial" clearly pointed to a Germanic or Nordic provenance. Ultimately, museums came to group fine art productions according to their geographical origin and the "ethnic" affiliation of their creators.

It would be entirely futile to try to prove that art history was uniquely racist: it was no more or less so than other social sciences, all of which were shaped or influenced by racial thinking aimed at classifying and hierarchizing human beings based on attributed somatic and psychological traits. Yet, as Eric Michaud demonstrates, the ties it forged between people and their artistic objects have not yet been severed: the most common view of art remains that it best embodies the genius of peoples.

Even today, in the globalized market, the ostentatious ethno-racial provenance of works—whether "Black," "African American," "Latino," or "Native American"—grants these exchangeable objects a measurable added value. Thus, a persistent competition of "races" is perpetually on display, which is nothing other than the very same one that presided over the birth of art history.

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The discipline of art history emerged during the nineteenth century alongside the development of European nation-states. During this period, scholars frequently sought to define national identities by tracing the evolution of artistic forms back to specific ancestral groups. This intellectual tradition often relied on the categorization of visual elements—such as linear versus pictorial qualities—to assign works to particular ethnic origins. The book examines how the conceptual foundations of art history were intertwined with the racial theories prevalent in the social sciences of that era.

Early classifications continue to influence contemporary perceptions of art and its value. Even within globalized markets, the practice of defining works through the ethno-racial identity of their creators persists, echoing the logic used to categorize objects in early museums. The book connects the birth of the discipline to modern commercial and cultural practices. Readers interested in the history of ideas and the institutional development of art history may find this analysis relevant.

An article by Paul Bernard-Nouraud on this book can be read on Proteus.