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Hans Bellmer
La poupée (The Doll), 1936

Bellmer’s work reflects both desire and loathing for the female body — a classic surrealist conflict. To create his photographs, he constructed a life-size female doll whose role oscillated between passive victim and persuasive seductress. Made out of modular, jointed body parts, it could be reassembled in a variety of contorted postures. In 1936 Bellmer published the photographs in La Poupée (The Doll), a book with an intimate format. Unlike the doll itself, the small book (just over four inches tall) could easily be hidden in a coat pocket between private viewings.

Bellmer began the project in Berlin just as Hitler came to power, and thus was forced to work in secrecy to avoid being branded a degenerate. Though he was virtually unknown in Germany, he found an audience among the French Surrealists, who reproduced his photographs in the December 1934 issue of the journal Minotaure (Minotaur), and who welcomed him when he relocated to France.

Artwork Info

Artwork title
La poupée (The Doll)
Artist name
Hans Bellmer
Date created
1936
Classification
photograph
Medium
album of gelatin silver prints
Dimensions
6 3/4 in. × 5 1/8 in. (17.15 cm × 13.02 cm)
Date acquired
1982
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Purchase
Copyright
© Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/82.57.1-10
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Other Works by Hans Bellmer

See other works by Hans Bellmer

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