Pierre Molinier FR, 1900-1976

Pierre Molinier (1900–1976) was a French painter and photographer. He began his career with Post-Impressionist portraits and landscapes, then shifted toward esotericism and eroticism. Beginning in 1955, he corresponded with André Breton, who exhibited his work in Paris in 1956 and welcomed him into the Surrealist circle. Starting in the 1960s, he developed a body of photographic work centered on autoeroticism and androgyny, consisting of self-portraits and photomontages, and collaborated with Emmanuelle Arsan, Haenel Koeck, and Luciano Castelli. Le Chaman et ses créatures (1995), a collection of drawings, paintings, and photomontages, stands as his artistic legacy.