Hans Bellmer

Lot Description Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) Personnage signed 'Bellmer' (lower right) and dated '1958' (lower left) pencil with white heightening on toned paper laid down on board 17 3/8 x 12½ in. (44.1 x 31.8 cm.) Executed in 1958 Provenance Galerie André-François Petit, Paris. Galerie Daniel Varenne, Geneva. Anon. sale, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 29 March 1993, lot 9. Anon. (acquired at the above sale); sale, Christie's, London, 8 February 2007, lot 699. Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. Pre-Lot Text Property from a Private East Coast Collection View Lot Notes > Rodica Aldoux has confirmed the authenticity of this work.

LOT 30 HANS BELLMER 1902 - 1975 PETIT TRAITÉ DE MORALE The complete portfolio, comprising 10 etchings printed in colors, 1968, each signed in pencil, this copy numbered 140 on the justification, from the edition of 150 (total edition includes 20 impressions with Roman numerals), on wove paper, contained in the original cloth-covered portfolio box, published by Editions Georges Visat, Paris (10 prints) each sheet 380 by 284 mm 15 by 11 1/4 in

HANS BELLMER (1902-1975) Les Jeux de la Poupee 1935/1970 c-print 30x30 cm foglio 40x30 cm esemplare 50/100 iscrizione e dedica:à Man Ray avec les Hommages de Hans Bellmer timbro a secco in basso a sinistra sul retro tiratura edita per "Enigme III - la logique Asassine" di Man Ray Les Jeux de la Poupee 1935/1970 c-print 30x30 cm sheet 40x30 cm edition 50/100 iscription and dedication:à Man Ray avec les Hommages de Hans Bellmer embossing stamp in the bottom left edition on the verso edited for "Enigme III - la logique Asassine"of Man Ray

Close HANS BELLMER “The imagination derives exclusively from bodily experiences.” HANS BELLMER The Games of the Doll marks Hans Bellmer’’s second experimentation with a female doll. The first experiment, a collaboration between Hans and his brother Fritz was in 1934 and resulted in a compilation of 10 images, Die Puppe with the introduction, Memories of the Doll Theme . The images were meant to expose the inner workings of a doll whose existence hovered between an emphatically man-made construct and a biomorphic Golem, complete with a wig and make-believe eyeballs. While the doll’’s construction and actions in this early compilation bore some semblance to reality, those from The Games of the Doll reveal a far less realistic depiction of the female form. Indeed, the images in Hans Bellmer’’s The Games of the Doll collectively present a far more Surrealist vision, one in which the doll is often constructed of multiple ball-in-socket limbs that appear to have been configured with little regard to proportion or anatomical correctness. Her appearance is at once nightmarish and preposterous, straddling a fine, ambiguous line between presumed childhood innocence and a calculating adult fetishization. It is of no surprise, therefore, that about a year following his second experiment with the doll, a few of Bellmer’’s images appeared in the Minotaure and Cahiers d’’art , the leading French publications devoted to Surrealism. Following his move to Paris from Berlin in 1938, the famed Surrealist Paul Éluard selected fourteen images to be compiled into a book, where each image would be accompanied by a poem written by Éluard. A small edition titled Poupée II was created, but following the Second World War its publication was brought to a halt. A larger edition, published by Éditions Premières in Paris, as Les jeux de la poupée (The Games of the Doll) , of which the current lot is an example, was published a decade later in an edition of 136. While the great majority of the books have been broken up, the current lot is a rare example of the complete book, presented as it had been originally intended by Bellmer and Éluard. 179 HANS BELLMER Les jeux de la poupée (The Games of the Doll) Paris: Les Éditions Premières, 1949. 15 hand-colored gelatin silver prints plus 2 trimmed, hand-colored gelatin silver prints, all mounted within the artist’’s book. 10 x 7 3/4 x 1/2 in. (25.4 x 19.7 x 1.3 cm) Signed in pencil and stamped number '104' on the last page of book. Number 104 from an edition of 136. Text by Paul Éluard. Enclosed in a leather slipcase. ESTIMATE $70,000 - 90,000 PROVENANCE Baudoin Lebon, Paris LITERATURE Princeton University Press, Surrealism: Desire Unbound , pp. 212, 214-215 Contact Specialist Request Condtion Report Recieve Email alerts “The imagination derives exclusively from bodily experiences.” HANS BELLMER The Games of the Doll marks Hans Bellmer’’s second experimentation with a female doll. The first experiment, a collaboration between Hans and his ... Read More... View catalogue Purchase catalogue Annual subscriptions

DescEN Bellmer, Hans Phantasy creature. Etching in colours. Numbered 7/100 lower left and signed lower right in pencil. 1902 Kattowitz - 1975 Paris. Phantasiewesen. Farbradierung. Surreale Darstellung eines vogelartigen Mischwesens mit weiblichem Unterleib. Mit Bleistift u.l. 7/100 num. und u.r. sign. H. 17,5, B. 23,5 cm. Für dieses Objekt wird zusätzlich die gesetzliche Einfuhr-Umsatzsteuer von 7 % auf den Nettopreis (Zuschlagspreis + Aufgeld) hinzugerechnet. Wird das Objekt nach dem Zuschlag wieder in die Schweiz gebracht, entfällt die Einfuhr-Umsatzsteuer. This auction item is subject to 7 % statutory import duties added to the net price (hammer price + premium). These import duties do not apply if the auction item is returned to Switzerland following the auction's closing .