Four things to see: Puppets

‘Four things to see’ is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app. Bloomberg Connects lets you access museums, galleries and cultural spaces around the world on demand. Download the app here to access digital guides and explore a variety of content.

Each week we bring you four of the most interesting objects from the world’s museums, galleries and art institutions, hand-picked to mark significant moments in the calendar.

From ancient shadow plays to modern animatronics, puppets have long captivated the human imagination, blurring the line between animate and inanimate, the real and the artificial, as well as speaking to our fascination with illusion. This February marks 85 years since Walt Disney’s Pinocchio premiered in New York, bringing to the screen Carlo Collodi’s tale from 1883 of a puppet who yearns to become human.

From the sacred puppetry traditions of Asia to the satirical ‘Punch and Judy’ shows of Victorian England, puppets have long served as vehicles for storytelling, entertainment and social commentary. This week we examine four artworks that probe the complex relationship between puppet and puppeteer, control and submission.

La folie (n.d.), Gustave Doré. Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

La folie (n.d.), Gustave Doré
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

In this enigmatic work, a young woman cradles a marotte – the sceptre-like bauble of a medieval court jester. X-rays have revealed that Doré originally painted her holding a baby; the later substitution of the jester’s head on a stick transforms what might have been mere sentimentality into something far more complex and haunting. Click here to find out more on the Bloomberg Connects app.

The Straw Manikin (1791–92), Francisco de Goya. Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Straw Manikin (1791–2), Francisco de Goya
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Four young women toss a blank-faced puppet in a blanket, their laughter contrasting with its limp passivity. Created as a cartoon for tapestries in Carlos IV’s office at El Escorial, this carnivalesque painting is notable for its use of contrasting light: the manikin is almost silhouetted against the bright background. Click here to learn more.

Girl’s Portrait with a Marionette of a Sumō Wrestler (1845), Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III). National Gallery Prague

Girl’s Portrait with a Marionette of a Sumō Wrestler (1845), Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)
National Gallery Prague

Part of a series titled ‘Wrestling match between sumō dolls and flowers’, this print speaks to the popularity of sumō during the Edo period. It pairs a woman with a puppet of a renowned wrestler, providing a contrast between the elegant subject and her toy-like companion which subtly plays with notions of power and control. The technical mastery is evident in the intricately patterned clothing and the carefully graded background. Click here to find out more.

The Woman and the Puppet (1909), Ángel Zárraga. Museo Colección Blaisten, Mexico City

The Woman and the Puppet (1909), Ángel Zárraga
Museo Colección Blaisten, Mexico City

This striking painting by the Mexican artist Ángel Zárraga was inspired by Pierre Louÿs’s novel of the same name (1898), which depicts the psychological manipulation of a Spanish nobleman by an elusive seductress. In the painting, the grotesque mask of the puppet contrasts sharply with the classical nude form of the woman; the dark and imposing hills of the backdrop add to the feeling of unease. In presenting the woman both as holding power over the puppet, and as a nude object of (male) desire, the work plays with themes of gender, dominance and submission. Click here to read more.

‘Four things to see’ is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects, the free arts and culture app. Bloomberg Connects lets you access museums, galleries and cultural spaces around the world on demand. Download the app here to access digital guides and explore a variety of content or scan the QR code.