Door: Claude Cahun.
“The figurine is made up of overtly political articles from the newspaper L’Humanité. On the neck are references to Stalin’s show trials, the upper chest refers to a ‘huge rally’. Furthermore, Cahun includes words pointing to parts of the body in appropriate places: the top of the left arm reads ‘your breasts’ and ‘your teeth’. The figure’s hands bear the words ‘end of the world’. Anatomy is symbolically mixed up by this misnaming. The figure’s right foot is pinned to the spot by a stick that runs from above its shoulder down into the ground. Its upper body is impaled with tiny sharp sticks. With its teeth and military hat it makes one think of German fascist troops. Combined with the references to body parts and the end of the world, this doll evokes the physical threat of fascism. It counters the word ‘humanity’, which in addition to being ironic here would have been recognizable as the banner of the official French Communist Party newspaper. The references to show trials also point to the totalitarian dangers of communism in the Soviet Union. Frightening and pathetic at once, this doll appears to be nothing so much as a military voodoo doll with which Cahun tries to ward off the evil spirit of fascism.”
