Hans Bellmer
La Toupie
Date 1956
Medium Oil on cardboard
Dimensions 62.5 x 62.5 x 1.5 cm
Inventory ID UID 102-50
50.jpg
The bones of the pelvis, at the top, resemble a kind of mask-shaped head which observes the spectator. It sits on a succession of four members consisting of tibias, femurs, radii, ulnas, clavicles, fibulas or humeri, joined together by joints. Some round shapes, muscles and breasts, are connected to this skeleton. Below, a foot or a hand grabs a cone balanced on a base. It can be recognized almost as a machine with an articulated arm designed by an engineer. Hans Bellmer’s technical precision as an industrial draughtsman lends an icy realism to this spinning top in human form. Several drawings from this period are sequences of joints and bones placed in all directions, as if Bellmer had invented a new kind of human form. AC
Pascal Sernet, Paris, Galerie André-François Petit, Paris, Daniel Filipacchi, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York; Ratner Collection Chicago; Elkon Gallery, New York; Private Collection, Switzerland; Zaid Abdali; The Mayor Gallery, London; acquired in 2002.