8 - BELLMER, Hans (1902–1975).

BELLMER, Hans (1902–1975). Autograph letter signed “Bellmer,” Castres, April 10, 1945, to a friend [Henri PARISOT?]; 2 pages on thin yellow paper. Regarding an abandoned project to illustrate Michelet’s *La Sorcière* for the publisher Les Quatre Vents. Note: Bellmer expresses doubts about this project: “It’s not so much the material constraints […] I don’t care about those as long as I’m certain the result—the book with the drawings—will be worth it. But I want absolute freedom for my drawings. If one is thinking of historical and ‘realistic’ illustrations […] it would be better for the publisher to turn to someone else.” Bellmer wants to create “variations on the ‘possessed’ and ‘rebellious’ woman, the ‘feminine Satan,’ and the victim. It goes without saying that objects will play their necessary role in this, whether natural structures or decorative objects—agricultural implements, kitchenware, objects of luxury and wealth; as for characters besides the Witch, there will likely be a few faces of inquisitors, country priests, and old nuns. Naturally, the failure of the project would be regrettable, but I desire—and this is the fundamental condition—absolute freedom”… If what the publisher is seeking is quick sales, he should have turned to a different category of artists. If he is guaranteed a contract setting forth the agreed-upon terms—but above all “the assurance of my artistic freedom regarding the content and form of the drawings”—“I will set to work immediately”… Bellmer plans to return to Paris and settle there as soon as possible: “Here in the provinces, I make a living drawing portraits for a general audience (portraits with no artistic merit, but lifelike)”; settling in Béziers or Carcassonne for 15 days, he produces about one portrait a day, for 2,500 francs. In addition, he also plans to do “portraits for myself, interpreted—as I did one of Max ERNST, my own (in the Album), and as I am currently doing one of Joë BOUSQUET. TZARA will also sit for me in Toulouse”… He prefers to send Georges BATAILLE “a drawing to avoid the back-and-forth of the plate, and I’ll add that I’ve never done an etching and that, here, I lack the necessary materials to improvise one. And drypoint, with its rather stiff line quality, risks completely distorting my style.”