Hans Bellmer
[Artist, b. 1902, Kattowitz, Germany (now Katowice, Poland), d. 1975, Paris.]

 Perhaps there was more authentic danger in the photography that was banned—why shouldn’t one be able to produce it? But this new enthusiasm finally caused us some trouble, and it suffices to say, if I remember correctly, that it was in this way that my thoughts turned to the young maidens. 
 Yes, my dolls were the beginning. Obviously there was a convulsive flavor to them because they reflected my anxiety and unhappiness. To an extent they represented an attempt to reject the horrors of adult life as it was in favor of a return to the wonder of childhood, but the eroticism was all-important, they became an erotic liberation for me.