Doll Trying a Headstand, 1937

Harmless and innocuous though it looks, the motif is deceptive. In his dense charcoal drawing Doll Trying a Headstand of 1937, the Bregenz-born painter and drawing artist Rudolf Wacker (1893–1939) makes the ambivalence of our perception visible. Just like that, the imago of an infant with cute proportions becomes a projection surface of erotic desire, and we as viewers find ourselves in the position of voyeurs. Seemingly coincidental but openly shown, the exposure of the jointed doll turns into an unpleasantly transgressive experience. The artist relentlessly explores inner psychological states, his own desires and obsessions. Wacker owned a collection of dolls. He was fascinated by the tension between lifelikeness and lifelessness, by their symbolism and their capability to act as a counterpart that evokes emotions and seemingly embodies feelings. In Wacker’s work, dolls become metaphors, bearers of meaning of a world that presents itself to us in its ambiguity.

MH, 2021