Morton Bartlett
Encyclopedia
Morton Bartlett was an American
photographer.
for two years he struggled to earn a living. He passed through a succession of jobs, ranging from crafts magazine editor, gas station attendant, making gift cards, and running a printing business.
. Bartlett first began to make his dolls in 1936, the same year that Hans Bellmer
's book The Doll was published in Paris. Over the following 25 years, Bartlett carved and dressed numerous sculpted dolls (about 15 have survived), and created a photographic record of them which amounts to about 200 monochrome photographic prints and 17 colour slides. He was also a collector of anatomy books. The dolls and photographs were found after his death, and have since been shown in books and gallery exhibitions.
His dolls inspired Jake and Dinos Chapman (the Zygotic sculptures, circa 1995). In early 2008, one of the dolls sold at auction for $110,000 U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
photographer.
Life
Bartlett was an orphan, he never married, and he lived alone for all his life. After attending Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
for two years he struggled to earn a living. He passed through a succession of jobs, ranging from crafts magazine editor, gas station attendant, making gift cards, and running a printing business.
Works
Although untrained in art, he worked in sculpture and photographyPhotography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
. Bartlett first began to make his dolls in 1936, the same year that Hans Bellmer
Hans Bellmer
Hans Bellmer was a German artist, best known for the life-sized pubescent female dolls he produced in the mid-1930s. Historians of art and photography also consider him a Surrealist photographer.-Biography:...
's book The Doll was published in Paris. Over the following 25 years, Bartlett carved and dressed numerous sculpted dolls (about 15 have survived), and created a photographic record of them which amounts to about 200 monochrome photographic prints and 17 colour slides. He was also a collector of anatomy books. The dolls and photographs were found after his death, and have since been shown in books and gallery exhibitions.
His dolls inspired Jake and Dinos Chapman (the Zygotic sculptures, circa 1995). In early 2008, one of the dolls sold at auction for $110,000 U.S.