From the Renaissance onwards mannequins were used by artists and sculptors to study perspective, arrange compositions, ‘rehearse’ the fall of light and shade and, especially, to paint drapery and clothing. But, while even the very greatest artists condoned its use, the mannequin best served its purpose by remaining ‘silent’: too present in the finished picture, it could make figures appear stiff and unnatural, and so betray the tricks of the artist’s trade. In the latter half of the 19th century the mannequin started to undergo a transformation from tool to icon and muse. At first it appeared in paintings humorously, and then more darkly, as artists such as Edgar Degas played on the presence in the studio of a figure that was lifelike, yet lifeless; realistic yet distinctly unreal. This more penetrating psychological approach to an extent reflects the then-widespread fascination with hysteria, widely familiar through case studies of the patients of the ‘Napoleon of neuroses’, Dr Jean-Martin Charcot, at La Salpêtrière hospital, Paris. Under hypnosis, these women left the indelible impression of being ‘mannequinised’, manipulated by the doctor as an artist would pose a lay figure. 

As the demand for the artist’s lay figure fell away at the beginning of the 20th century, it was replaced in the creative imagination by the shop-window dummy. Trade catalogues by leading French mannequin-manufacturers and vintage wax display mannequins show how, in less than a generation these figures evolved from a cumbersome approximation of the human form to become sleek, abstract and self-styled ‘artistic creations’.

In the final section of Silent Partners the mannequin enters the modern age as a subject of fetishistic desire in photographs by Herbert List and Man Ray and as well as others by Hans Bellmer that explore the doll-like body dis-articulated and recomposed. The Surrealists’ fascination with these objects is shown in a group of photographs by Raoul Ubac and Denise Bellon of the ‘mannequin street’ created by artists such as André Masson and Salvador Dalí at the International Exhibition of Surrealism in Paris in 1938. Three characteristically provocative works by Jake and Dinos Chapman form a 21st century coda to this ‘pre-history’ of the on-going creative partnership between mannequin and artist. 
 

In a new initiative, visitors will be led to the exhibition by an installation pathway, linking Silent Partners to the permanent collections of the Museum in a series of original and thought-provoking interventions. Among these will be a recreation of the ‘grande machine’ used by Nicolas Poussin to ‘test’ his compositions with small figurines, replicating his masterpiece Extreme Unction (1638-40), recently acquired by the Fitzwilliam with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund.
Silent Partners will feature a diverse range of works: paintings and drawings, books, dolls, films, photographs, a series of extraordinary patent documents and videos that will surprise and at times disturb. But among the most striking and fascinating exhibits will be the mannequins themselves: from beautifully carved 16th century small-scale figurines to haunting wooden effigies, painted dolls of full human height and top-of-the range ‘stuffed Parisian’ lay figures that were sought after by artists throughout Europe. 

The exhibition will be travelling on to the Musée Bourdelle, Paris following its run in the UK, and is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated book published by Yale University Press.
 
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Silent Partners book
The articulated human figure made of wax or wood has been a common tool in artistic practice since the 16th century. Its mobile limbs enable the artist to study anatomical proportion, fix a pose at will, and perfect the depiction of drapery and clothing. Over the course of the 19th century the mannequin gradually emerged from the studio to become the artist’s subject, at first humorously, then in more complicated ways, playing on the unnerving psychological presence of a figure that was realistic, yet unreal lifelike, yet lifeless.
Silent Partners locates the artist’s mannequin within the context of an expanding universe of effigies, avatars, dolls and shop window dummies. Generously illustrated, this book features works by such artists as Poussin, Gainsborough, Degas, Courbet, Cézanne, Kokoschka, Dalí, Man Ray, and others; the astute, perceptive text examines their range of responses to the uncanny and highly suggestive potential of the mannequin.
Silent Partners: Artist and Mannequin from Function to Fetish
Author Jane Munro
ISBN 13: 978 0 300 20822 1
Publication date: October 2014
Published by Yale University Press 

The Fitzwilliam Museum
Founded in 1816 the Fitzwilliam is the principal museum of the University of Cambridge and leads the University of Cambridge Museums (UCM) Major Partner Museum consortium. The Fitzwilliam’s collections explore world history and art from antiquity to the present day. It houses over half a million objects from ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman artefacts, to medieval illuminated manuscripts, masterpiece paintings from the Renaissance to the 21st century, world class prints and drawings, and outstanding collections of applied arts, ceramics, coins, and Asian arts. The Fitzwilliam presents a wide ranging public programme of major exhibitions, events and education activities, and is an internationally recognised institute of learning, research and conservation. The Fitzwilliam Museum gratefully acknowledges its many funders and supporters, including the University of Cambridge, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)'s Museums, Galleries and Collections Fund, Arts Council England's Major Partner Museum programme and Cambridge City Council.
 
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