PIERRE MOLINIER

Published by: Art Space Yoshi Tsubomi, Tokyo, n.d.
First edition
Softcover with pictorial French fold wrappers
20 × 20 cm
72 pages
Black-and-white photographs
Text in Japanese
Limited edition of 1,500 copies
Condition: Very Good. Light shelf wear and slight discoloration to spine; interior clean and well-preserved.

This Japanese catalogue presents a focused selection of the surreal, erotic, and transgressive creations of Pierre Molinier (1900–1976), the French painter and photographer whose staged self-portraits redefined notions of identity, fetishism, and corporeal transformation.

Produced by Art Space Yoshi Tsubomi in Tokyo, this square format volume gathers black and white reproductions of Molinier’s meticulously constructed photographic tableaux. In these works, the artist appears fragmented, multiplied, cross-dressed, or hybridized dissolving fixed gender boundaries and destabilizing the coherence of the body itself. Stockings, mannequins, mirrors, and prosthetic limbs become recurring motifs in a private mythology that merges Surrealism with erotic ritual.

The French fold wrappers and intimate 20 × 20 cm format reinforce the book’s object quality, aligning with Molinier’s own emphasis on artifice, staging, and photographic manipulation. Though published decades after the artist’s death, the catalogue retains the charged atmosphere that defined his practice where desire, performance, and self-invention converge.

As a Japanese publication, this edition reflects Molinier’s enduring international influence and the particular resonance of his work within avant-garde and underground visual culture.