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DOLL AS AN EROTIC FETISH IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF HANS BELLMER

I. M. Sakhno, I. Y. Lapshin

First published: 2019https://doi.org/10.5593/SWS.ISCAH.2019.1/S25.029View metrics

Abstract

The article analyzes the photographic series "The Doll" (1934-1935) by German photographer Hans Bellmer in the context of representation of an artificial body. Hinged dolls of Bellmer can be easily dismantled or cut into pieces, they are objects that represent new meanings of erotic content. The artist himself called them "articulating objects" and anagrams, the visual translatability of which was marked with tools deconstruction. The doll becomes for the artist an alter ego of a kind, a part of a fetishist's universe В— "an object which can be possessed". Artificial girl Hans Bellmer undermines the foundations of aggressive masculinity and is a reaction to the "Nazi subject" ( R. Krauss). For Bellmer, the body of a doll is an erotic and narrative fetish which helps him to overcome childhood injuries, suppressed complexes and forbidden sexual desires. In his obsession with dolls the photographer reproduces a new associative text with ambiguous semantics. Like a mathematician, he divides, subtracts and performs a permutation, presenting an anagrammatical equation and a palindrome to the audience. These photographic stagings make the body, visual iconography and writing visually and linguistically balanced.

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Publication details

Title
DOLL AS AN EROTIC FETISH IN THE PHOTOGRAPHS OF HANS BELLMER
Authors
I. M. Sakhno, I. Y. Lapshin
Proceedings
6th SWS International Scientific Conference on Arts and Humanities ISCAH 2019
Publisher
STEF92 Technology
Year
2019
Pages
221-228
SWS Citekey
Sakhno201925221228
ISSN
2682-9940
ISBN
978-619-7408-90-4
Language
en
Publication type
Proceedings Paper
Keywords
dollBellmertraumafetisheroticaanagrampalindrome
References13

  1. Käufer, Birgit. Die Obsession der Puppe in der Fotografie. Hans Bellmer, Pierre Molinier, Cindy Sherman. Series: Kultur- und Medientheorie. Bielefeld, Germany, 2006, p.48.

  2. Bellmer, Hans. Memories of the Doll Theme. Surrealists on Art. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1970, p. 63-64.

  3. Bellmer, Hans. Poupée. Variations sur le montage d’une mineure articulée. Minotaure, 1935, № 6, pp. 30-31.

  4. Bellmer, Hans. La PoupГ©e. Paris: Editions GLM, 1936.

  5. Mad Artist: The Story of the Scandalous Life of Oscar Kokoschka. URL: https://www.maximonline.ru/longreads/get-smart/_article/kokoshka/

  6. Freud, Sigmund. Uncanny. Moscow, Russia, 1995, p. 678.

  7. Krauss, Rosalind. The Photographic: Experience of Divergence Theory. Moscow, Russia, 2014, p. 71

  8. Foster, Hal. Armor Fou, High/Low: Art and Mass Culture, MIT Press, USA, Vol. 56, 1991, p. 64

  9. Taylor, Sue. Hans Bellmer. The Anatomy of Anxiety, MIT Press, USA, 2000, p.13

  10. Webb, Peter. Hans Bellmer. Death, Desire, and the Doll. The Life and Art of Hans Bellmer, Series Solar Art Directives, Chicago, USA, 2008.

  11. Smith, Marguard. The Erotic Doll: a Modern Fetish. Yale University Press, London, UK, 2013, p.303

  12. Bellmer, Hans. Les jeux de la poupГ©e, Paris, 1949.

  13. Bellmer, Hans. Little Anatomy of the Physical Unconscious, Saint Petersburg, Russia, 2019, p.40.

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