Messager, in fact, often makes reference to nine-
teenth- and early twentieth-century medical and
criminal photography, especially Jean-Martin Char-
cot’s photographs of women diagnosed as hysterics
in the Salpeˆtriere hospital in Paris. In the early 1980s, Messager began covering walls with the fantastic world of Chimeres.Shecon-
structed witches, spiders, grotesque trees, bats, and
giant moles made from torn photographs painted in
shrill colors that depict eyes, noses, mouths, tongues,
and sexual organs. This technique of ripping a frag-
mentary image from a whole creates a forceful repre-
sentation that blends the aesthetic of the street fair
with Surrealism, showing the influence of Hans Bell-
mer’s grotesque artworks assembled from doll body
parts. WithMes petites effigies(1987), she began
using stuffed animals as voodoo dolls, which she
wrapped in black-and-white photographs of human
limbs and with the accompanying texts evokes a
cultish aura. Her playful imitation of stuffed animals
presents the recurring parallel in her works between
photography and taxidermy—both freezing life and
transforming the subject into a fetish.
She further emphasizes the fetishistic character of
photography in works such asLesLignesdelamain
(1987–1988) andMes Trophe ́es(1986–1988). In these
works, large format photographs of the soles of feet,
the palms of hands, posteriors, and elbow joints
create idyllic landscapes that yield all kinds of mythi-
cal creatures, heavenly bodies, and ornamentation.
Precursors to this art are the gallant Cartes du Tendre
of the Rococo period, tattoos, instruction manuals
for chiromancy, and the cliche ́d figure of the hyster-
ical woman. In general, Messager’s works—her repe-
toire of forms and motifs—come from a variety of
sources, combining art history and folklore.
Her voyeuristic representation of body parts is in
part inspired by Catholic votive imagery, which
fascinated Messager as a child.Mes Voeux(1988/
89) is indebted to the dense presentation of these
images in chapels and churches. It features an
ensemble of black-and-white framed photographs
that are hung from strings, showing nostrils, lips,
outstretched tongues, a single finger, toes, navels,
armpits. These parts stand in for various people
but do not form the sum of a single body. Sexual
zones are also not overlooked; she includes nipples,
male genitalia, and pubic hair. By isolating and
amassing these images, Messager ridicules the
voyeurism of porno magazines and at the same
time plays with the voyeurism of the viewer,
which she impedes by the sheer quantity of accu-
mulated, overlaid, and detailed sectioning of her
photographs. Messager prizes photography pre-
cisely as a technology of reproduction.
De ́pendanceinde ́pendancefrom 1995, an installa-
tion in the form of a heart, consisting of 500 elements
taken from works created in the previous 20 years,
creates once again the ambivalent magic and ironic
mesmerizing power of photography lost in other
works suchLes restes(1998/99) andLes Re ́pliquantes
(1999/2000). In the 1990s, important museums such
as the Museum of Modern Art in New York and
Reina Sofia in Madrid acknowledged Messager’s
artistic originality with solo exhibitions.
BrigitteHausmann
Seealso:Bellmer, Hans; Beuys, Joseph; Boltanski,
Christian; Feminist Photography; Photographic
‘‘Truth’’; Photography in France; Representation
and Gender; SurrealismBiography
Annette Messager, born 1943 in Berck-sur-Mer, studied at
the Ecole des Arts De ́coratifs in Paris; numerous travels;
lives and works in Malakoff near Paris.Individual Exhibitions
1973 Annette Messager Sammlerin, Annette Messager Ku ̈nstle-
rin;Sta ̈dtische Galerie im Lenbachhaus; Munich, German
1978 Serials, Annette Messager; Holly Solomon Gallery;
New York, New York
1981 Annette Messager; San Francisco Museum of Modern
Art; San Francisco, California
1983 Annette Messager: Chime`res, 1982–1983; Muse ́e des
Beaux-Arts; Calais, France
1984 Les Pie`ges a`Chime`res d’Annette Messager; Muse ́e
d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Paris, France
1986 Annette Messager, Peindre, Photographier; Muse ́e
d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain; Nice, France
1989 Annette Messager: Come ́die Trage ́die, 1971–1989;
Muse ́e de Grenoble; Grenoble, Switzerland and traveling
1990 Contes d’e ́te ́; Muse ́eDe ́partemental, Chaˆ teau de
Rochechouart; Rochechouart, France
1991 Annette Messager. Faire des histoires/Making up stor-
ies; Mercer Union and Cold City Gallery; Toronto,
Canada and traveling
1993 Faire Figures; Fonds re ́gional d’art contemporain
Picardie; Amiens, France
1995 Annette Messager. Faire Parade 1971–1995; Muse ́e
d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; Paris, France
1995 Annette Messager; Los Angeles County Museum of
Art; Los Angeles, California and traveling
1997 De ́pendanceinde ́pendance; Gagosian Gallery; New
York, New York
1998 C’est pas au vieux singe qu’on apprend a`faire la grimace;
Muse ́e national des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oce ́anie;Paris,France.
1998 Annette Messager. Map of Temper, Map of Tenderness;
Brown University, David Winton Bell Gallery; Provi-
dence, Rhode Island
1999 Annette Messager. La procesio ́n va por dentro; Museo
Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia; Madrid, Spain
1999 Annette Messager. De ́pendanceinde ́pendance; Hambur-
ger Kunsthalle; Hamburg, GermanyMESSAGER, ANNETTE