Bellmer, Hans

(3/13/1902 Kottowitz-2/9/1975 Paris) (Germany / France)

   Painter, photographer, sculptor, printmaker, and writer. Studied with Grosz. Most famous for his arrangements of doll parts and surreal, composite, explicitly sexual prints and drawings. His 1930s work was a reaction to the rising power of fascism, the dolls an antidote to the Nazi cult of physical perfection. He was declared a degenerate artist and fled to France in 1935, where the surrealists welcomed him as one of their own.

   Reproductions: A Sade; 1960; Gorsen, 1970: pp. 1638, 1643 / Weiermair, 1995: pp. 238-241 / Neret, 2000: pp. 634, 643, 645 [C] / Wallace 2007: p. 203 [C]. [Anal intercourse and scat scene]; 1968; Encyclopaedia, 2005: p. 276 [C]. Appropriation; 1944; Neret, 1994: p. 665 [C]. Cephalopod with portrait of Unica Zurn and Hans Bellmer; 1955; collage; Smith, 1980: pp. 196-197 [C] / Lucie-Smith, 1972: 163 [B]. Cephalopode Creje; 1939; Sommer, 1981: p. 8 [B]. [Closeup of copulating genitalia]; etching; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 65 [B]. [Composite image of genitalia and human figures]; Smith, 1974: 150 [C]. Composition: girl's head at center; dry-point; Philips, 1979: fig. 122 [B]. Composition under lamp; drypoint; Philips, 1979: fig. 242 [B]. Composition: woman with ellipses; drypoint; Philips, 1979: fig. 123 [B]. Composition: women and stools; drypoint; Philips, 1979: fig. 124 [B]. [Copulation scene with girl fisting a woman]; etching ; 31 Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 58 [B]. [Copulation scene with girl fisting a woman superimposed on female figure composed of male genitalia]; etching; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 59 [B]. Death and the maiden; Melville, 1973: fig. 211 [B]. Doll; c1934: Webb, 1975: p. 367 [B]. Double portrait of artist and model: pencil; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 122 [B]. Elle (lui); 1953; Neret, 2000: p. 644 [B]. [Erotic drawings], from A short treatise on morals; 1968; Dopp, 2004: pp. 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215 [B]. [Girl with phallus]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1970c: pp. 54, 55 [B] / Bentley, 1984: p. 161 [B]. Illustration for Story of the eye by Batailles; 1950; Neret, 1994: p. 664 [C] / Neret, 2000: pp. 635, 656, 640 [B & C] / Wallace 2007: p. 202 [C]. La philosphe dans le boudoir, le petit trait de morale; 1966-1968; Neret, 2000: pp. 632, 639 [C]. La poupee; Olley, 2005: p. 139 [C]. La poupee; 1932: Neret, 2000: p. 652 [B]. La poupee; 1938; Neret, 2000: p. 653 [B]. Le demie poupee; Burland, 1974: p. 127 [B]. Les Bas Rayes; lithograph; Smith, 1980: 195 [C]. Les cent vingt journees de Sodome; Neret, 2000: p. 638 [C]. Les jeux de la poupee; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 119 [B]. Little painting with doll; 1941; oil; Olley, 2005: p. 138 [C]. [Nude woman exposing her genitals]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1968: p. 122 [B]. Petit Traite de morale portfolio; [10] etchings; 1968; Weiermair, 1995: pp. 246-249 [C] / Kronhausen, 1970c: 57 [B] / Webb, 1975: p. 368 [B]. [Phallic figures]; copper engraving; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 64 [B]. Poor Phyllis; 1962; pencil; Philips, 1979: fig. 327 [B]. [Sex scenes], illustrations from Little Treatise on Morals; 1968; Erotic drawings, 2004: pp. 207, 209, 211, 213, 215, 217, 219, 221 [C]. [Sexual furniture]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 60 [B]. Sexual instructions I, page 2; 1974; copper point; Neret, 1993: p. 84 [B]. Sexual instructions I, page 5; 1974; copper point; Neret, 1993: p. 100 [B]. Soutterrain Baroque; Dopp, 2004: p. 216 [B]. [Superimposed image of girl]; copper engraving; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 56 [B]. [Superimposed phallic-copulation scenes]; pencil Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 61 [B]. Talon aiguille II; 1961: Gorsen, 1970: p. 1641 [B]. [Torso]; painted aluminum; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 153 [B]. [Triple penetration scene]; Encyclopaedia, 2005: p. 276 [C]. [Two girls with old man]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 62 [B]. Unica avec l'oeil-sexe; 1961; Neret, 2000: p. 634 [B]. [Untitled]; engraving; Kronhausen, 1968: 123 [B]. Untitled; 1934; pencil; Olley, 2005: p. 137 [C]. [Un-titled]; 1942; Neret, 2000: p. 650 [B]. Untitled; 1946; pencil; Olley, 2005: p. 136 [C]. [Untitled]; 1948; Neret, 2000: pp. 646-649, 654 [B]. [Unti-tled]; 1958; Neret, 2000: p. 655 [B]. [Untitled]; 1961; Neret, 2000: p. 651 [B]. Untitled drawings; pencil; Kronhausen, 1968: pp. 120-121 [B]. Vision of a nude seated; 1959; pencil; Philips, 1979: fig. 326 [B]. [Woman in composite image]; Encyclopaedia, 2005: p. 277 [C]. [Woman morphs into phallus]; 1968; Encyclopaedia, 2005: p. 276 [C]. [Woman performing fellatio]; 1947; pencil; Kron-hausen, 1973: p. 16 [B]. [Woman seen from the back]; 1943; pencil; Tilly, 1986: 63 [C]. [Woman superimposed with phallus]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1970c: p. 54 [B]. [Woman with phalluses]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1970c: 63 [B]. [Woman's genitals and anus fingered by hand]; pencil; Kronhausen, 1973: p. 17 [B]. [Women kissing with genitalia superimposed]; Smith, 1974: p. 151 [C]. Women: surrealist composition; 1959; drypoint; Philips, 1979: fig. 243 [B].

   [b]Source: Sarane Alexandrian, Hans Bellmer (Paris: Editions Filipacchi, 1971); AKL VIII 1994: p. 501; Norio Awazu, "[Hans Bellmer's prints and sketches: the line of Eros; in Japanese]," Mizue 838 (January 1975): pp. 465 1; Jean Christophe Bailly, "Le reve et le desir: au regard de la poupee," XXe Siecle (n.s.) (2 June 1974): pp. 101 -107; Bellmer: anatomie der lust; erinnerung an einem erotoma-nen (Frankfurt: Graphisches Kabinett im Westend Rothe, 1991); Hans Bellmer, DiePuppe (Berlin: Gerhardt, 1962); Hans Bellmer, The drawings of Hans Bellmer (New York: Grove Press, 1967); Benezit, vol. 2: pp. 99-101; Monique Broc-Lapeyre, "Hans Bellmer ou l'artisan criminal," Revue d'Esthetique (1 -2 1978): 241 -276; Michel Conil-Lacoste, "L'erotisme tetratologique de Bellmer," Le Monde 8379 (December 22 1971): p. 13; DoA vol. 3: pp. 672673; Francis Fleur, "Hans Bellmer," L'Oeil (December 1971): pp. 10-13; Alex Grall (ed.), Hans Bellmer (London: Academy Editions, 1972); "Hans Bellmer." In Paris Eros by H-J Dopp (New York: Parkstone Press, 2004), pp. 210-217, ill.; Alain Jouffroy, Hans Bellmer (Chicago: William and Noma Copley Foundation, s.d.); John Lyle, "Hans Bellmer: the machine gun in a state of grace," Art and Artists 5, 2 (August 1970): pp. 22-25; Robert Morgan, "Hans Bellmer: l'invasion d'eros," Art Press 207 (November 1995): pp. 33+; Oeuvre grave (Paris: Denoel, 1969); J. Pierre, "J'ecoute la couine Ursula," L'Oeil 204 (December 1971): pp. 14-17+; A. Pieyre de Mandiargues, "Eros, Masoch et Sade: erotisme et sensualite," Galerie-jardin Des Arts 190 (1979): pp. 14-15; M-D. Porcheron-Fershing, "Un dessin erotique de Hans Bellerm et l'ero-tisme du dessin," Revue d'Esthetique 1 -2 (1980): pp. 83-85; Terry Southern, "The show that never was," Art and Artists 1, 8 (November 1966): pp. 10-12; Vollmer V 1961: p. 287; Peter Webb and S. Short, Hans Bellmer (London: Quartet, 1985).