Hans Bellmer - artist

Hans Bellmer

Surrealism

September 19, 2013

German Surrealist artist, Hans Bellmer, is best known for his life-size sculptures of grotesque dolls and erotic photography. He was fascinated with pubescent female figures, which were metaphors of sexuality. Created out of metal and wood skeleton, padded with plaster curves and papier-mâché, often twisted, headless, deformed, with missing limbs. These dolls were pervasions of the female form. Hans Bellmer observed:

The female body is like an endless sentence that invites us to rearrange it so that its real meaning becomes clear through a series of endless anagrams.

Hans Bellmer’s artwork has been on display in numerous galleries and museums, including the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin, the Whitechapel Gallery in London, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, NY, and the International Surrealist Exposition in Paris in 1947.

Hans Bellmer - Untitled - Four Women, 1965
Hans Bellmer - Untitled - Four Women, 1965. Prints; 50.8 x 66 cm. Courtesy RoGallery

Hans Bellmer’s Doll

Hans Bellmer (1902) was born in Katowice, Poland, and studied engineering at the Berlin Technische Hochschule. There he came in contact with the artists of the Dada movement and George Grosz. With the rise of the Nazi regime, Bellmer stopped doing any work that supported the state. However, his strongest statements against fascism were made through art itself. His photo book, titled The Doll (Die Puppe) published anonymously in 1934, featured 10 photographs of Bellmer’s first doll.

The disfigured figures were a complete opposite to the Nazi’s cult of the perfect human body, and soon they proclaimed him a degenerate. In 1938, Bellmer was forced to flee the country and move to Paris, where he was welcomed by Andre Breton and the Surrealists.

Hans Bellmer - Souterrain No. 13, 1965
Hans Bellmer - Souterrain No. 13, 1965. Prints, On BFK Rives; 64.8 x 78.7 cm. Courtesy RoGallery

Sexuality and Desire

Bellmer’s art seemed to personify the Surrealist ideal of 2 opposites – aversion and attraction. The artist’s dolls, such as Games of the Doll (Jeux de la Poupée, 1935), often appear mangled, with twisted abdomens and parts missing. These artworks were both naturalistic and fantastical, evoking an array of emotions. Throughout his career, Bellmer was fascinated with the burning point (brennpunkt) – where the outer meets the inner.

His sculptures, drawings, and photographs were inspired by lust, sexuality, subconscious, dreams, and death. The feminist movement was strongly opposed to Bellmer's work, however, several female artists who knew him claimed he treated women with respect. Bellmer had his first solo exhibition at the Librairie Trentin in Toulouse, France, in 1943. He worked in close collaboration with his wife, artist Unica Zürn, until her death in 1970.

Hans Bellmer - Untitled 3, 1972
Hans Bellmer - Untitled 3, 1972. Prints; 66 x 50.8 cm. Courtesy RoGallery

Legacy

Hans Bellmer is one of the most influential artists of the 20th century that inspired generations of young artists. His work has been an inspiration for numerous artworks and media, such as Louise Bourgeois' Fillette (1968), Cindy Sherman's Untitled #263 (1991). The Riot Girls movement of the 90s used Bellmer's imagery, most notably, Courtney Love used it for her "Kinderwhore" aesthetic. Even popular anime films and video games, such as Silent Hill 2, feature characters inspired by his artwork.

Hans Bellmer died in 1975 in Paris, France. Today his work is part of numerous collections including the Museum of Modern Art, the Tate, and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Featured image: Photo of Hans Bellmer. Copyright of the artist. 

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