Bellmer is quoted as having said, “The body resembles a sentence that seems to invite us to dismantle it into its component letters, so that its true meanings may be revealed ever anew through an endless stream of anagrams.” Like many other artists around the world, Bellmer reacted to the zeitgeist of the moment in his work, stating “if the origin of my work is scandalous it is because, for me, the world is a scandal.” The first doll was created in 1933, and Bellmer then began photographing it. In the latter part of 1934, he self-published ten of his photographs in his infamous book Die Puppe (The Doll), and soon thereafter, upon presenting eighteen photographs in André Breton’s Surrealist magazine, Minotaure, he was officially launched into the Parisian art scene. La Poupée (The Doll), was officially published in France in 1936, an example of which is proudly included in this exhibition.

This exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated publication, with an essay by writer and curator Bob Nickas titled Hans Bellmer and His Inifinities.