Exterieur van de Beurs te Bordeaux 1862 - 1876

Jean Andrieu created this stereoscopic albumen print, "Exterieur van de Beurs te Bordeaux," capturing the architectural grandeur of the Bordeaux stock exchange. Andrieu, working in the mid-19th century, was part of a generation grappling with photography's role in documenting and shaping perceptions of the world. This image offers a glimpse into the economic and social structures of the time. Exchanges like this one in Bordeaux were central hubs for commerce, embodying the era's complex relationships between trade, colonialism, and labor. The architecture itself—stately and imposing—speaks to the power dynamics inherent in these systems. Consider how such images might have been consumed and understood in their time. They offered a window onto a world of financial exchange, even as they obscured the human costs of those systems. Andrieu's photograph stands as both a document of and a commentary on the society that produced it.