Photograph or Moving Image by ForeignPhotographer/Artist
Inventory Number
93-PHF-004
The Yokohama Museum of Art has in its collection 11 photographs that Hans Bellmer took of his second doll, which he made in 1935. These are just a fraction of the more than 100 similar photographs he took in secret at his home near Berlin between 1935 and 1938 during the Nazi years. None of the photographs shows the doll in its complete state. In this photograph, set against a background of flowing cloth and a hula hoop, the doll is missing its head, arms, and legs below the knees. The hips are attached above and below a spherical abdomen, and a downward-pointing hand is visible in place of the left leg. Spherical joints are attached to the tips of the extended fingertips and thighs. Bowknot ribbons, blonde hair splayed like a fan, and the hips are suggestive of the doll’s gender.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)
The Yokohama Museum of Art has in its collection 11 photographs that Hans Bellmer took of his second doll, which he made in 1935. These are just a fraction of the more than 100 similar photographs he took in secret at his home near Berlin between 1935 and 1938 during the Nazi years. None of the photographs shows the doll in its complete state. In this photograph, set against a background of flowing cloth and a hula hoop, the doll is missing its head, arms, and legs below the knees. The hips are attached above and below a spherical abdomen, and a downward-pointing hand is visible in place of the left leg. Spherical joints are attached to the tips of the extended fingertips and thighs. Bowknot ribbons, blonde hair splayed like a fan, and the hips are suggestive of the doll’s gender.
(NAKAMURA Naoaki)