Electicism in Dolls

Electicism, Perhaps I've Made up a Word!

 

My friend, noted author and doll artist R. Lane Herron writes a series of articles for Doll Castle News called The Elite World of Dolls.  He has traced the history of modern doll collecting from roughly the 20s to 80s in great detail by spotlighting renowned collectors and their treasures.

 

He notes, as I do, that we don’t collect the same way we did when the UFDC was created over 50 years ago.    During the days Max von Boehn, Alice Trimpey, Eleanor St. George, Janet Pagter Johl, Faith Eaton, Mary Hillier, Dr. Manfred Bachmann, Carl Fox,  Genevieve Angione, Pat Smith, Helen Young, John Noble, and others wrote, few collectors specialized.  There were many revered doll and antique dealers, and some of these authors also made or sold dolls.  While it’s true we know more than ever about dolls and marks, it is also true that the doll is more than the sum of her attributes and the dollar amount listed in price guides.

 

Melinda, an A&M painted German Bisque; she was my first
German Bisque Doll.

Antique Mignonette

Vintage Christmas Figures

Pat Thompson Vlasta Dolls

These early author/collectors were pioneers in early material culture studies, the predecessors of writers like Susan Pearce, Kenneth Gross, and Marilyn Gelfman Karp. Early collectors had eclectic collections, and Ruby Short McKim of Kimport and others like her helped them build unusual and varied displays of dolls. 

 

Personally, I love reading these book and seeing just how far the definition of doll could go.  I loved the doll motif concept of Lea Baten, who defines dolls also by how they pop up in related disciplines, like graphic art, sculpture, folk art, utilitarian crafts, and more.  I loved how Max von Boehn, a museum curator, and Laura Starr, a teacher, explored the importance of dolls to many cultures, some  lost today, and the uses of doll like objects, from bee hives to figurines. G. Stanley Hall and Caswell Ellis studied the psychological and sociological importance of dolls, and stressed their educational value in “A Study of Dolls.”

Vintage Closed Mouth Bisque Doll

Vintage Artist Bru Teteur

Three Artist Bisque Dolls, 70s vintage, Gibson Girl is Center

Primitive Black Doll Lower Left, Lower right, Vintage European Vinyl, above counter clockwise Bratz, Cener
Carlson Dolls Cow Girl, Upper Left, Cloth artist Mrs. Claus

Antique German Bisque with Chatty Cathy Looking over her Shoulder

 

Kimport’s Doll Talk newsletters had articles and also sold everything from antiques to dressed fleas from Mexico!  If anyone out there has a set, I want one!   Hillier talked of clock figures and ancient idols, even gingerbread men. Young discussed ancient paddle dolls and crèche figures.

 

Max von Boehn and Bachmann talked of prehistoric goddess figures, idols, Santos, and Fox included masks and fetishes.  All are dolls.

 

None of these writers sneered at tourist dolls or international costume dolls; Luella Hart even wrote her own books on these as well as antique dolls.  St. George included contemporary dolls like Patsy and Shirley Temple in her books, so did young.  Fox and Starr discussed folk dolls at length.

Parian Statue, 19th century

Wax over Doll from Germany

Variety of Dolls, including a Kachina, Lower Right

Storyteller; this concept was created by Helen Cordero

Mask, with Modern Plush Upper Left

 

Early writers acknowledged price; early collectors coveted china heads and Parians, and later automatons, which Lindbergh favored, and French fashions ruled the doll world. But, investment and price weren’t what mattered most. People didn’t write ten page articles on hang tags and certain marks as they do now.  It was about beauty, the need to curate and preserve, variations on a theme, and love of history, beauty and collecting. 

 

German Papier Mache

Artist Emma Clear's Grape Lady

Food for doll thought, at least.  Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and Peace in 2018.