Portrait of Jean Arp 1957

Hans Bellmer made this drawing of Jean Arp with pencil on paper. It's mostly monochromatic, a delicate dance of light and shadow. You can almost feel the artist’s hand moving across the page, searching, finding, then losing the form. I wonder what Bellmer was thinking as he rendered Arp's likeness? Maybe he was thinking about Arp's sculptures, their smooth, biomorphic forms. Did he want to capture something of that essence in his portrait? The lines are so tentative, so searching. See how the artist captures Arp’s gaze – steady, knowing, but also a little melancholic. Bellmer is known for his unsettling and surreal work, particularly his dolls, which were pretty transgressive, but here he shows a gentler side. Even in this simple drawing, you can sense his fascination with the human form and its endless possibilities for transformation. Artists are always riffing off each other, a visual conversation through time.