#10602 • Hans Bellmer (1902-1975) "Les Fleurs du Mal"

Part of Pierre Argillet & Royal Family Art Collection (timed auction by GWS Auctions)

Starting at $1.00

Status: Sold

Est. $4,500-$5,500 Hans Bellmer (German; 1902-1975) "Les Fleurs du Mal" (From "The Songs of Maldoror" Series) Original Copper Plate Etching Hand Signed & Numbered 46/100 in Exhibit Quality Frame From the Collection of Pierre Argillet W/COA - This stunning piece is an original copper plate etching by Surrealist artist Hans Bellmer. The piece is titled "Les Fleurs du Mal", and is part of the "Songs of Maldoror" erotic series. The series was based on "The Songs of Maldoror", a long poem by Comte de Lautreamont written fifty years before the Surrealists but adopted as their own. The series documented a libido so strong that it saw writhing bodies in ordinary faces and everyday scenes. Although Bellmer was famous for the life-size dolls he produced and photographed, he was also a master engraver, documented by this series of exquisite copper plate etchings. The piece is hand signed by the artist in the lower right corner, and numbered 46/100 in the lower left. The etching measures approx. 22"L x 15"W, and is framed in a beautiful, exhibit quality frame. This piece comes from the collection of Pierre Argillet, publisher, avid collector of Surrealist art, and lifetime friend of Salvador Dali and the Surrealists. This is the first time this collection has been offered at auction, and the piece will come with a certificate of authenticity from the Museum of Surrealism in Melun, France (Pierre Argillet's former home "Chateau Vaux-le-Penil" and former museum). Hans Bellmer was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist photographer. He initiated his doll project to oppose the fascism of the Nazi Party, and, represented by mutated forms and unconventional poses, his dolls were directed specifically at the cult of the perfect body then prominent in Germany. Bellmer's work was eventually declared "degenerate" by the Nazi Party, and he was forced to flee Germany to France in 1938, where his work was welcomed by the Surrealists around Andre Breton. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries in Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris, Chicago, New York, and countless others.