Les jeux de la poupée (Games of the Doll)

In his introduction to this Surrealist collaboration, poet Paul Éluard promotes the virtues of experimental poetry. He argues that by defying convention, experimental poetry allows readers to peer deeply into unexpected compositions and perhaps find their authentic self. Hans Bellmer’s “dolls” populating the pages of this book are themselves examples of unexpected compositions. In some photographs, mannequin parts lay in a pile on the studio floor, while in others forests or domestic settings form the backgrounds for sets of disembodied legs. Hand-painted colors lend an otherworldly glow to the silver gelatin prints, highlighting fleshy contours or infusing the whole picture with a neon sheen. Éluard’s fourteen prose poems, originally written in 1938, accompany each photograph, his words suggesting inner desires for these impossible beings and enticing the viewer to find life where there is none. Disrupted by the war, this edition was finally published in 1949 by Éditions Premières, owned by the art dealer Heinz Berggruen. The Art Institute’s example is signed by the artist, and number 118 of an edition of 136.