Hans Bellmer

Galerie Saint Germain, Paris
Gallery of Surrealism, New York
Acquired from the above on April 10, 2005

Andre Pieyre de Mandiargues, Le Trésor cruel de Hans Bellmer, Paris, 1980, illustrated p. 197

The German artist Hans Bellmer began his career as a draughtsman at his own advertising agency. He began producing his famed Surrealist dolls as a rebellion against the authority of his father and the rising fascist state. These biomorphic, purposefully disturbing forms with multiple extremities sometimes appeared headless or missing limbs, and were often presented nude in vaguely sexual poses. When the Nazis declared his work degenerate Bellmer fled to France, where he found artistic camaraderie with the Surrealist circle. Following the War, he abandoned doll making, focusing on photographs, etchings and paintings of figures in sexually explicit positions.