The Doll, 1934–35
Hans Bellmer (French, born Silesia, 1902–1975)
Gelatin silver print
Artist Biography
Technical Glossary
Hans Bellmer (French, born Silesia, 1902–1975)
Gelatin silver print
11 5/8 x 7 5/8 in. (29.5 x 19.4 cm)
Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987 (1987.1100.15)
Bellmer's obsession with dolls—his endless fabrication, reconstitution, and photographic presentation of them—was an effort to construct objects that would articulate his tortured desires in material form. The bizarre, robotic temptress in this negative print has an eerie electric aura. To love her, one would have to have, as the Surrealist poet Pierre Reverdy wrote, a "short circuit in the heart-system."
