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In the 1950s and 1960s the surrealist object retained its
power as a vehicle for private fantasies and fears. Marcel
Duchamp had been thought to have abandoned art to devote himself
to chess. However, a few works that emerged during the 1950s
revealed that his fascination with eroticism had not faltered.
He produced three small bronzes based on parts of the sexual
anatomy, and known collectively as 'erotic objects'. After
Duchamp's death, they were found to relate to his last major
project: an installation featuring a realistic model of a
naked female body that could be viewed only through a peephole.
Dorothea Tanning and Louise Bourgeois also drew on the themes
of the surrealist object. Tanning's Rainy Day Canapé
(1970), a woman melting into the fabric of a sofa, manages
to convey unbridled sexuality, humour and pathos. Bourgeois'
Fillette (1968), combines both male and female qualities.
Though overtly phallic, its title means 'little girl', and
Bourgeois posed for photographs cradling it in her arms. 'From
a sexual point of view I consider the masculine attributes
to be extremely delicate', she said. 'They're objects that
the woman, myself, must protect…'
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Louise Bourgeois, Torso Self-Portrait, Cheim
and Read, New York © Louise Bourgeois/VAGA,
New York and DACS, London 2001
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