The Doll
- Photographer
- Hans Bellmer, German, 1902–1975
- Date
- 1935, printed later
- Material
- Gelatin silver print
- made in
- Berlin, Berlin state, Germany, Europe
- Classification
- Photographs
- Collection
- Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
- Current Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- image: 9 x 6 5/8 in. (22.9 x 16.8 cm)
sheet: 9 x 6 5/8 in. (22.9 x 16.8 cm) - Credit Line
- Museum Shop Fund
- Rights
- © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York, NY / ADAGP, Paris
- Object Number
- 159:1987
NOTES
Like his fellow Surrealists, Hans Bellmer used photography to evoke alternate realities. He constructed the mannequin depicted here, giving it moveable parts that could be repositioned. Bellmer carefully staged this scene and others, creating two books of photographs that explored a disturbing world of myths, fantasy, and sexuality. Placed alone and in vulnerable situations, the distorted doll-like figure embodies the fear and alienation that Bellmer sensed in events of the time, particularly the Nazi rise to power.
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