Rare artist proof vintage silver gelatin print by Pierre Molinier (1900 - 1976): Effigy - Photomontage 1, Plate 3 of The Shaman and his Creatures (Le Chaman et ses Créatures) Circa 1960 - 1965.
Hand inscribed notes to the reverse by the author and with 3 artist stamps.
Photocopy of the back of the print is attached to the reverse of the frame.
Unusual larger size Molinier print: 23.5 × 15.5 cm.
Mounted in museum quality glass frame: 52 × 45.5 cm.
High quality print and very good condition.
Although Molinier's early work was connected to the Surrealist movement and he was initially encouraged by André Breton, he had more in common with those on the fringes such as Hans Bellmer & Claude Cahun, and therefor mostly worked in isolation.
Molinier’s elaborate fantasy life and gender play became his art. His partners were his own photomontaged and duplicated selves. In his photographs he became both other and himself, man and woman, penetrator and penetrated. At the core of his art, his transvestism signalled the merging of sexes, a multiplication of organs and limbs and selves. He became the object of his own desire and self-eroticism, a self that was other.
The process Molinier put his images through by cutting them up and reassembling them, daubing them with ink and rephotographing them, photomontage – mirrored the transformative aspect of his subjects and the fluid ambiguity of his gender and sexuality.
Molinier realised that photography had the power to reflect a more faithful image of himself than his mirror and provide the perfect medium for performing his own transformation into the ideal being: the androgyne, half man, half woman. Which echoes the ancient Shamanic tradition and experiments in sexual transformation that can be interpreted as an attempt to regain the primordial, perfection of the androgyne.
Beyond the interpretation of Molinier's work as self portrait artist and photomontage photographer, his creative process is perhaps more akin to performance art rituals for the camera. Therefor the rediscovery, influence and artistic comparisons since his death is found more in performance artists such as Ron Athey, Leigh Bowery, Narcissister, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and drag model and performer Violet Chachki.
Molinier staged his death, just as he staged his life. He found it amusing that those who would come to dissect his corpse would discover his toenails painted red. Molinier also had a fetish for guns, and in 1976 he shot himself in the mouth in front of a mirror. He wanted to watch his final creation.
A retrospective of Pierre Molinier's work was held at the Centre Pompidou the year following his death. He also has work displayed in the Pompidou’s permanent collection, and was included in their major 2024-25 Surrealism exhibition.
Photographer Nick Knight's Show Studio recently produced videos exploring Molinier's work, and featured 4 photographs loaned by Dreams Less Sweet in their galleries 2024 Shadow-Ban exhibition.
Rare artist proof vintage silver gelatin print by Pierre Molinier (1900 - 1976): Effigy - Photomontage 1, Plate 3 of The Shaman and his Creatures (Le Chaman et ses Créatures) Circa 1960 - 1965.
Hand inscribed notes to the reverse by the author and with 3 artist stamps.
Photocopy of the back of the print is attached to the reverse of the frame.
Unusual larger size Molinier print: 23.5 × 15.5 cm.
Mounted in museum quality glass frame: 52 × 45.5 cm.
High quality print and very good condition.
Although Molinier's early work was connected to the Surrealist movement and he was initially encouraged by André Breton, he had more in common with those on the fringes such as Hans Bellmer & Claude Cahun, and therefor mostly worked in isolation.
Molinier’s elaborate fantasy life and gender play became his art. His partners were his own photomontaged and duplicated selves. In his photographs he became both other and himself, man and woman, penetrator and penetrated. At the core of his art, his transvestism signalled the merging of sexes, a multiplication of organs and limbs and selves. He became the object of his own desire and self-eroticism, a self that was other.
The process Molinier put his images through by cutting them up and reassembling them, daubing them with ink and rephotographing them, photomontage – mirrored the transformative aspect of his subjects and the fluid ambiguity of his gender and sexuality.
Molinier realised that photography had the power to reflect a more faithful image of himself than his mirror and provide the perfect medium for performing his own transformation into the ideal being: the androgyne, half man, half woman. Which echoes the ancient Shamanic tradition and experiments in sexual transformation that can be interpreted as an attempt to regain the primordial, perfection of the androgyne.
Beyond the interpretation of Molinier's work as self portrait artist and photomontage photographer, his creative process is perhaps more akin to performance art rituals for the camera. Therefor the rediscovery, influence and artistic comparisons since his death is found more in performance artists such as Ron Athey, Leigh Bowery, Narcissister, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and drag model and performer Violet Chachki.
Molinier staged his death, just as he staged his life. He found it amusing that those who would come to dissect his corpse would discover his toenails painted red. Molinier also had a fetish for guns, and in 1976 he shot himself in the mouth in front of a mirror. He wanted to watch his final creation.
A retrospective of Pierre Molinier's work was held at the Centre Pompidou the year following his death. He also has work displayed in the Pompidou’s permanent collection, and was included in their major 2024-25 Surrealism exhibition.
Photographer Nick Knight's Show Studio recently produced videos exploring Molinier's work, and featured 4 photographs loaned by Dreams Less Sweet in their galleries 2024 Shadow-Ban exhibition.
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