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Artist or Maker: 1902-1975
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Date: Executed in 1934; printed in negative circa 1960, this large format print is unique.
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Medium: photograph: printed in negative, mounted on masonite
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Dimensions: 151 by 100cm.
59 1/2 by 39 3/8in.
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Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner circa 1960
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Exhibited: Paris, Galerie Daniel Cordier, Hans Bellmer, 1963-64
Paris, Artcurial, Le Belvédère Mandiargues, 1990, illustrated in the catalogue (titled Sans titre and incorrectly dated circa 1939-46)
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Literature: Gaëtan Picon, Journal du surréalisme, Geneva, 1976, p. 153, illustration of a positive print
Obliques (special edition dedicated to Hans Bellmer), Nyons, 1979, p. 80, illustration of a smaller example
Surrealism, desire unbound (exhibition catalogue), Tate Modern, London and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2001-02, p. 39, illustration of a smaller example in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
Icône, Photographies de la collection Claude Berri (exhibition catalogue), Arles, 2003, p. 75, illustration of a smaller example
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Notes: La Poupée is the quintessential Bellmer theme that recurs throughout his ?uvre in his photographs, paintings and drawings. In 1934 Bellmer devoted all his energy and genius to the creation of an articulated doll, which soon became an iconic figure of the Surrealist movement. The present work is a unique monumental image of this very first Poupée, that has since been destroyed. It was first published in the review Minotaure of December 1934, where it is displayed in different positions and settings, broken in parts or lying on the floor. Its left nipple was torn off and replaced with a button that when pushed various erotic images and objects appeared by looking in the navel: the creation process of the doll, its photographic images and the doll itself became works of art of their own, part of an entirely Surrealist world created by Bellmer.
The monumental size of the present photograph, exhibited at Bellmer's landmark show at Galerie Daniel Cordier in 1963, makes it one of the most striking and powerful images of the Poupée. The negative print effect inverses the contrasts of light and enhances its impact and power of provocation. As Alain Sayag suggested, Bellmer's creation evolved through defining moments where photography played a catalyst role (see: Alain Sayag, 'Hans Bellmer', in Donation Daniel Cordier, le regard d'un amateur (exhibition catalogue), Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, 1989, pp. 46 & 50).
