Synopsis
This is the first ever translation of Bellmer's text to appear in English. After nearly half a century, a new audience can experience Bellmer's illumination of the "purely subjective" subconscious realm of human bodies. The drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures of Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) stand as some of the most important erotic art from the last century. Bellmer first gained recognition in the mid-1930s - coming to the attention of Andre Breton and the Surrealists - with his seductive and disturbing photographs of the articulated female dolls he had constructed and modified in his private studio in Berlin. Bellmer formed long-term friendships with a number of key Dadaists and Surrealists and participated in Surrealist exhibitions although he remained on the peripheries of group activities. In the 1950s Bellmer composed this small book in which he elaborated upon the psychosexual forces that provide the impetus for his artistic works. The original French edition (1957) met with a positive reception from poets and literary figures such as Andre Breton and Joe Bousquet, as well as a number of psychologists.
Particularly impressed by the selection of poetic anagrams in the book, Man Ray telegrammed Bellmer the following anagram in response: "IMAGE = MAGIE" (Image = Magic).