The Doll (Maquette for The Doll's Games) 1938

Hans Bellmer built this doll, sometime in the mid-twentieth century, as a kind of model or study for a larger project. It's funny isn't it - how something can be so strange and upsetting, but so beautiful too. I can only imagine him, in his studio, carefully constructing and positioning this doll. He’s like a surgeon and a puppeteer all in one. There’s a sensuality here, but it's twisted and uncanny. The smooth, pale skin of the doll contrasts with the dark, almost bruised-looking areas. It reminds me of some of the weirder stuff by artists like Louise Bourgeois and Paul McCarthy - this interest in the body, but pushing it to some sort of limit. It makes you question what you find attractive, or even what you find human. Anyway - it's really stuck with me. It's kind of opened my eyes to a different way of seeing things, a different way of being in the world.