Hans Bellmer: The Anatomy of Anxiety

335 Pages·2000·6.55 MB·English

by  Sue Taylor

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The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England
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THE ANATOMY OF ANXIETY
Sue Taylor
© 2000 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by
any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or
information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the
publisher.
Works by Hans Bellmer © 2000 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New
York/ADAGP, Paris.
Works by Salvador Dalí © Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
Works by René Magritte © 2000 C. Herscovici, Brussels/Artists Rights Soci-
ety (ARS), New York.
Cover: Hans Bellmer, Jointure à boule (Ball Joint), 1936, mixed media (52 ×
45.5 × 7 cm). Courtesy Herbert Lust Gallery, New York. Photograph by
David Heald, courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
Frontispiece: Hans Bellmer, The Yellow Interior,1958, oil on linen (100 ×81
cm). Courtesy Herbert Lust Gallery, New York.
This book was set in Janson Text by Graphic Composition, Inc. and was
printed and bound in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Taylor, Sue, 1949–
Hans Bellmer : the anatomy of anxiety / Sue Taylor.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-20130-5 (hc. : alk. paper)
1. Bellmer, Hans, 1902–1975—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Erotic
art. 3.Fetishism in art. I. Title.
N6888.B44 T39 2000
709´.2—dc21
00-042721
To Don Baum, mentor and friend
This page intentionally left blank
C Illustrations
O
N viii
T
E Acknowledgments
N
xx
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S Introduction
2
C PART I Fetishism and the First Doll
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1 2 3
The Self-Proclaimed Oedipal Son An Iconography of the Nursery Uncanny Automata
18 36 56
PART II Sadomasochism, Castration Anxiety, and the Ball-Jointed Doll
4 5 6
Doll Games:Pleasure in Pain Pseudorationality and the Virtual Body Mechanical Metaphors in the Service of Symmetry
70 98 110
PART III Transgression, Pornography, Scoptophilia
7 8 9
Bellmer Illustrates Bataille Loving and Loathing the Father The Resort to Perversion
132 152 168
Conclusion Notes
192 222
Appendixes Bibliography
200 A. Chronology 280
210 B. Hans Bellmer, “The Father” Index
212 C. Hans Bellmer, “Notes on 294
the Subject of the Ball Joint”
220 D. Hans Bellmer, “Striptease”
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Plates
Frontispiece. Hans Bellmer, The Yellow Interior,1958, oil on linen (100 ×81
cm). (Courtesy Herbert Lust Gallery, New York.)
1 Hans Bellmer, Die Puppe (recto of plate 2), 1934, oil on hardboard (293⁄ ×
4
20 in.). (Courtesy Curtis Galleris, Inc., Minneapolis).
2 Hans Bellmer, Die Glasmurmel (verso of plate 1), 1934, oil on hardboard
(293⁄ × 20 in.). (Courtesy Curtis Galleries, Inc., Minneapolis).
4
3 Hans Bellmer, Double Cephalopod (Self-Portrait with Unica Zürn), 1955, oil,
collage on canvas (53 × 81). (Courtesy Isidore Ducasse Fine Arts. Photograph
by David Heald, courtesy Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.)
4 Hans Bellmer, Déshabillage,1951, two-color lithograph on tinted paper
(38 ×28 cm), ed. 47, Denoël 23. (Courtesy Herbert Lust Gallery, New York).
Figures
I.1 Hans Bellmer, Self-Portrait,1944, black-and-white photograph. (Cour-
tesy Ubu Gallery, New York. Photograph by Ali Elai, Camerarts, New York.)
Page 7
I.2 Hans Bellmer, The False Twins, 1936/37, pencil, gouache on paper.
(Courtesy Anders Malmberg, Malmö, Sweden.) Page 10
I.3 Leonardo da Vinci, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne,1508–1510, il-
lustrated in Sigmund Freud, Leonardo da Vinci and a Memory of His Childhood
(1910). (Photograph by Chelsea Mosher, Portland, Oreg.) Page 11
ix
Illu
1.1 Hans Bellmer, Sr., c. 1918. (Courtesy Thomas Bellmer, Kearny, N.J.) stra
Page 19 tion
s
1.2 Hans Bellmer, Untitled,1934, black-and-white photograph, tipped in La
Poupée(Paris: Editions G.L.M., 1936). (Photograph courtesy of The Art In-
stitute of Chicago.) Page 23
1.3 Hans Bellmer, Untitled,1934, black-and-white photograph, tipped in La
Poupée(Paris: Editions G.L.M., 1936). (Photograph courtesy of The Art In-
stitute of Chicago.) Page 24
1.4 Hans Bellmer, The Doll,1935, black-and-white photograph. (Courtesy
Ubu Gallery, New York, and Galerie Berinson, Berlin.) Page 25
1.5 Hans Bellmer, The Doll, 1934, black-and-white photograph. (Private
collection.) Page 25
1.6 Hans Bellmer, The Doll,1934, black-and-white photograph. (Courtesy
Herbert Lust Gallery, New York.) Page 25
1.7 Hans Bellmer, Untitled,1934, linocut on pink paper (16.7 ×12.8 cm),
published in La Poupée(Paris: Editions G.L.M., 1936). (Photograph © 1999,
The Art Institute of Chicago. All rights reserved.) Page 26
1.8 Hans Bellmer, Rose ouverte la nuit,1935/36, graphite, gouache on paper.
(Private collection.) Page 26
1.9 Hans Bellmer, L’Aigle Mademoiselle, n.d., graphite, gouache on paper.
(Private collection. Photograph by Jacqueline Hyde, Paris.) Page 27
1.10 Hans Bellmer, Undressing, 1968, ink on paper. (Private collection.)
Page 27
1.11 Hans Bellmer, Untitled,1934, graphite, gouache on paper. (Courtesy
Ubu Gallery, New York, and Galerie Berinson, Berlin. Photograph by Ali
Elai, Camerarts, New York.) Page 30
1.12 Hans Bellmer, Untitled,1934, black-and-white photograph, tipped in
La Poupée(Paris: Editions G.L.M., 1936). (Photograph courtesy of The Art
Institute of Chicago.) Page 31