Hans Bellmer – De Sade Corselet (1950)

Wieland Schmied aptly states that ‘for Bellmer, the realm of Eros and
its artistic renditions provided the only possible rebellion against a
world careering [sic] down a false trail by its reliance on rationalism and
causality. His work and beliefs revolted against an existence that
struggled under the oppression of reason. As he himself explained, “If
the origin of my work is scandalous, it is because, for me, the world is
a scandal”. In a life constrained by prejudices and prohibitions,
erotic experience in the realm of art became an outlet of unconditional
truth. If Paul Cézanne claimed that art is a harmony parallel to nature,
Bellmer exceeded him with a more radical epigram: art is a revolt
parallel to eroticism’ (ibid., p. 24). The clean, controlled,
and minutely executed lines constituting the shape of the corset, an
emblem of female subjugation and heavy with erotic associations, almost
hypnotise the viewer through movement and transition. Bellmer departs
from the imagery of a restricting corset, exploring the boundaries of
the theme by contradicting its original function as an object through
its blown-up form. With a Minimalist twist, Bellmer seems to prefigure
the popular Op-Art of the Sixties and sexual undertones in which he
successfully reveals ’the desires of Eros as a parable of creativity’ (ibid.).

–exceprt from the Sotheby’s catalog note on the work [emphasis added]