THE COLLECTION
Hans Bellmer (German, 1902–1975)
Doll
- Date:
- Paris 1936 (cast 1965)
- Medium:
- Painted aluminum
- Dimensions:
- 19 1/8 x 10 5/8 x 14 7/8" (48.5 x 26.9 x 37.6 cm), on bronze base 7 1/2 x 8 x 8" (19 x 20.3 x 20.3 cm)
- Credit Line:
- The Sidney and Harriet Janis Collection
- MoMA Number:
- 579.1967
- Copyright:
- © 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Exquisite Corpses: Drawing and Disfiguration
March 14–July 9, 2012
In Berlin in the 1930s, Bellmer constructed a series of life-size dolls, which he drew and photographed in various positions and settings, exploiting what he called their "accommodating and limitless docility." This work relates to his second doll, made in 1935 from glue and tissue paper and painted a flesh tone. Its ball joints, which allowed for endless recombinations of its appendages, are emphasized in this drawing by crosshatched modeling in white ink on the black ground. These swollen articulations make the body a tumescent mass; as in Bellmer's sculpture Doll, its order is undermined by the lack of distinct head or feet.
If you are interested in reproducing images from The Museum of Modern Art web site, please visit the Image Permissions page (www.moma.org/permissions). For additional information about using content from MoMA.org, please visit About this Site (www.moma.org/site).
© Copyright 2011 The Museum of Modern Art