Hans Bellmer

Hans Bellmer was a French painter from Germany. In 1923, he attended courses at Technische Hochschule in Berlin and met pioneers of the Dadaist movement. When Hitler took power in 1933, the young artist decided to stop any work that was useful to the nation. At that time, Bellmer made a series of photographs of dolls striking a pose and placed in erotic situations. The “little articulate girl” fascinated the Surrealists and became an instrument of original thought about the body and contemporary erotic expression. In 1938, he took refuge in France and escaped a camp. In 1943, Hans Bellmer had his first personal exhibition. His work was violent and subversive. The exhibition included sculptures of naked dummy bodies, photographs, and etchings, which fascinated the Surrealists. His drawings show the secret urges and ambivalence of the erotic body. 

Hans Bellmer’s work has been exhibited internationally, including Centre Pompidou, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and Dorsky Gallery, New York.

Courtesy of Hus Gallery