Untitled (Variations around La Poupée) 1934

Hans Bellmer made this drawing with graphite, probably in the 1930s, and the doll here is caught in a moment of variation, or maybe torture. It’s a tangled, anxious vision. Look closely and you can almost feel Bellmer sketching, searching for the form, finding it and then losing it again. The marks build up, creating this eerie, unsettling scene. I can imagine him circling back, reworking the lines, and trying to resolve the composition. Does he ever fully resolve it? Does it matter? The materiality, the grain of the pencil, the starkness of the paper, all contribute to its raw emotionality. The doll's disquieting, fragmented form reminds me of Picasso's cubist portraits, but also anticipates work by artists like Louise Bourgeois. It’s like Bellmer is trying to pull something out from the subconscious. We are all influenced by those who came before us, and, in turn, we leave something for others to find, and continue the conversation. And I think that is something really beautiful to hold onto.