French Literature Reviews - 2026

The Capitalist Eye
Art and Visual Culture

Conceived by Frédérique Aït-Touati and Arnaud Esquerre, the "Terra Incognita" series (published by Flammarion) welcomes a new volume: The Capitalist Eye: Museums, Commerce, and Colonization by art historian Sophie Cras. At the end of the XIXᵉ century, a new type of museum emerged and gained widespread popularity in Europe and across the globe: the commercial museum. These institutions went hand in hand with the globalization of trade and colonial enterprises. The vast collections amassed within these museums were not intended for aesthetic contemplation, but rather served economic intelligence and the commodification of the world. They subsequently fell into complete oblivion—their collections were tucked away or even destroyed, and their buildings repurposed. Rediscovering them means understanding the museum as an instrument of trade policy, and rereading the history of capitalism and colonization as a history of visual culture.

Commercial museums developed across Europe and globally during the late nineteenth century alongside expanding international trade and colonial enterprises. As part of the wider history of visual culture, these institutions assembled extensive collections directed toward economic intelligence rather than aesthetic contemplation. Over time, however, these specialized spaces largely fell into oblivion as their buildings were repurposed and their holdings were stored away or destroyed. Recovering their history sheds light on the complex intersections between nineteenth-century trade policy, imperial expansion, and the institutional display of commodities.

Readers interested in the history of museums, visual culture, and nineteenth-century economic practices may find this study relevant. The volume forms part of the Terra Incognita series published by Flammarion, conceived by Frédérique Aït-Touati and Arnaud Esquerre. By examining institutions designed to further the commodification of the world, the work offers historical perspective on how nineteenth-century societies organized and exhibited global commerce.