Portrait of Luciano Castelli, 1970s
Pierre Molinier (b. 1900, Agen, France - 1976, Bordeaux, France) was a surrealist painter, photographer and 'object maker' who worked alongside the Surrealists, including Andre Breton who organised his only solo show in his lifetime at L'Etoile Scellee (1957).
Embodying an androgynous identity (cross-dressing in his wife's lingerie) and through his fetishistic erotic portraiture, he challenged norms of morality and decency, as in the self-portrait series Mon cul. Before committing suicide, he declared his death and raised his tomb against the social conventions of morality, glory and honour.
He committed suicide in 1976, and a retrospective at Centre Georges Pompidou was held the following year.