Inspired by Jacques Offenbach's opera "Tales of Hoffmann" and one of its protagonists, the doll "Olympia", Hans Bellmer created his first doll in 1933.[1] He photographed and designed the doll in various poses and in different environments. Playing with anatomy the artist contorts, twists, omits or doubles the doll's extremities and creates bizarre objects which are provocative, disconcerting and full of erotic energy. The artist visualizes the hidden sexual lust and brings unconscious to the surface. He represents the "anatomy of the physical unconscious"[2] following thus the surrealist tradition. The female genitalia were hidden in obscurity and denied for a long time. The focus in Bellmer's dolls is on their genitals which naturally are depicted. However, it must be mentioned that the woman is represented as object of sexual desire or possibly as a symbol of female sexuality.

Biography: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Bellmer

(Translation: K. Seifter)