Untitled (Phallus Girl) 1964

Hans Bellmer made this drawing with graphite on paper, sometime in the mid-20th century, and look at the way that the body emerges, how it’s pieced together from fragments. Bellmer was deeply interested in the Surrealist exploration of the subconscious, and this drawing is a kind of dreamscape, full of eroticism and the uncanny. I imagine Bellmer, lost in thought, his hand moving across the paper, creating these strange, hybrid forms. The limbs and torsos are twisted into unnatural poses, inviting multiple readings. The surface of the paper is activated by Bellmer's restless lines, which are reminiscent of artists like Otto Dix and Max Ernst, who were also wrestling with the fragmented human form. And you can see how these drawings were a rehearsal for his later sculptural dolls. It’s like the act of drawing became a way of thinking, a philosophical inquiry into the body and desire.