Photograph or Moving Image by ForeignPhotographer/Artist
Inventory Number
93-PHF-003
Hans Bellmer was a photographer and artist from the former German territory of Katowice.
Between 1933 and 1935 he created two life-size dolls of young girls, and his photographs of those dolls attracted the attention of the Surrealists. The first doll had a button on its left nipple that, when pressed, revealed a panorama, a series of illuminated pictures, installed in its stomach and visible through its navel. This photograph shows the second doll, which was made in 1935. The hips and joints are movable with spherical joints, allowing the doll to be posed freely. Parts could be removed and replaced. Here the doll has no arms and is wearing socks and shoes. Her body bends along the curve of a hula hoop. Illuminated from a low angle, the twisted torso shines against a diagonal plaid cloth below.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)
Hans Bellmer was a photographer and artist from the former German territory of Katowice.
Between 1933 and 1935 he created two life-size dolls of young girls, and his photographs of those dolls attracted the attention of the Surrealists. The first doll had a button on its left nipple that, when pressed, revealed a panorama, a series of illuminated pictures, installed in its stomach and visible through its navel. This photograph shows the second doll, which was made in 1935. The hips and joints are movable with spherical joints, allowing the doll to be posed freely. Parts could be removed and replaced. Here the doll has no arms and is wearing socks and shoes. Her body bends along the curve of a hula hoop. Illuminated from a low angle, the twisted torso shines against a diagonal plaid cloth below.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)