Hans Bellmer

German artist Hans Bellmer (1902–1975) was one of the most subversive artists associated with Surrealism, famous--notorious, even--for his erotic engravings, objects and photographs. The first edition of The Doll comprised a series of Bellmer’s photographs “illustrated” with prose poems by Paul Éluard; Bellmer’s hand-colored photographs subsequently acquired an iconic status as perhaps the purest exemplification of the Surrealist ideal of “convulsive beauty.” Later editions of the book were expanded to incorporate a body of theoretical, poetic and speculative texts that together comprise one of the most important expositions of Surrealist cultural theory. Bellmer weaves a remarkably disparate set of concepts and intuitions--from fields as diverse as mathematics, morphology, optics and psychology--into a theory of eroticism that provides a totally unexpected rationale for his uncompromising art. His ideas are, in the words of poet Joë Bousquet, a “scandal to reason.” This English edition follows Bellmer’s original, the texts having been translated for the first time--by Malcolm Green, who also provides an introduction--from the final German version.