6. Hans Bellmer – Dolls
The artist’s ‘Dolls’ series – once seen – are forever etched in the mind of the viewer. In 1934 the works appeared in the Surrealist journal Minotaur. Eighteen photographs Bellmer had taken of a life-size, female mannequin were grouped symmetrically under the title “Doll: Variations on the Montage of an Articulated Minor.” The works were perceived as surrealist ‘idealisations’ of the female form, the dual realms of alterity, femininity and childhood result in decidedly creepy works of art, that pre-date the Chapman Brothers’ equally dubious mannequins by more than half a century.