Black Dolls

Self portrait if Leo Moss.  Built over a discarded
composition doll. Photo by E. Tsagaris, D. Neff Collection

Leo Moss Doll.  D. Neff Collection. Photo by E. Tsagaris

Primitive Doll, leather head--Photo by E. Tsagaris.  D. Neff Collection

Coconut head by Isabel Greathouse. D. Neff Collection.  Photo: E. Tsagaris

Handmade cloth doll.  Costume of this doll emulates those of more expensive bisque dolls.
Photo, E. Tsagaris.

 

Example from Neff photo collection of girls with dolls and black dolls.  Photo by E. Tsagaris

Black dolls have played a role in our history from the first example created centuries ago.  Dolls tell the story of the people who created them, and are portraits of their makers in many ways.  Black dolls speak of courage, culture, art, and history that have shaped human endeavors for millennia.  Ancient Venus figures with corn-rowed hair, Egyptian Paddle dolls and Ushabti, ancient Iron figures from Benin, Nubian dolls and others testify to  this legacy of black doll making.

 

In California during the late 80s, the Rev. C. Laverne Williams, a lovely lady and gracious hostess, held a show devoted to black doll artists called The Holiday Festival of Black Dolls. R. John Wright, Magge Head Kane,  Floyd Bell, Carry Lisle, Leo Moss,  Shindana Toys, so many other gifted artists created them, too. The former Me Dolls site had amazing images of all kinds of dolls of color and ethnicity. O. Winfrey supposedly had a big collection, and the late Patrick Kelly, designer, had over 6000. His logo was a tiny black celluloid baby doll, sometimes made into a pin.  I once passed over a great T-shirt printed with one of these. It was for sale at Nordstrom’s.  Silly me.

 

Folk dolls made by slaves are valuable pieces of Americana that tell of historical struggle and injustice, and  black dolls made of nuts, wood, nipples, cloth, and other materials are the subject of museums and exhibits all their own.  Janet Pagter Johl wrote of them and pictured them in her books, and those picture here are from a current  exhibit of black dolls at The Figge Art Museum, Davenport, IA.  They are from the D. Neff
Collection, and are part of an exhibit from the Mingei Museum. I was lucky enough to meet the talented woman who collected the dolls on exhibit, and also to attend the opening and reception.

 

Examples that have become scarce include black sock dolls that fit over antique bottles.  Examples of these and other folk dolls exist in Wendy Lavitt’s American Folk Dolls, Myla Perkins’ Black Dolls series, and Carl Fox’s The Doll.

 

Black Kewpie, aka “Hottentots”, are the quintessential doll for February; the angelic Kewpies, originally drawn by Rose O’Neill, sport blue wings and a red heart, and the black examples are iconic as well.   The RJW “Hottentot” Kewpie was release in 2001, and is made of felt and jointed.  The doll, of course, sports the famous red Kewpie heart, and is just adorable!

 

Lenci and Norah Wellings made exceptional black dolls of felt and velvet, and Madame Alexander has provided amazing and detailed examples over the years, some very rare models.

 

Another iconic black doll, the Golliwog, was inspired, in part, by a performer who was sketched by Toulouse Lautrec, “Chocolat.”  Originally born in Brazil, Chocolat was a star during the Moulin Rouge Era, and Debussy’s “Golliwog’s Cakewalk”, Part of The Children’s Suite, was a nod to Chocolat the entertainer.  Robertson’s Jellies has long been associated with its Golliwog log and ins and other memorabilia it has sold.   They appear in Florence K. Upton’s “Two Dutch Dolls” in a Golliwog, and I’ve seen examples from Germany (Steiff), The United States, England, and South Africa.

 

Black memorabilia dolls and figures are popularly collected and include Mammy dolls made of different materials, often sold as souvenirs in New Orleans and Elsewhere. Other Mammy dolls are portraits of actress Hattie McDaniel, who played Mammy in Gone with The Wind.  Miss McDaniel was the first African American actress to win the Oscar for her role, but she was also an avid doll collector and a pen pal of my friend, doll author and artist R. Lane Herron.

 

Dolls from Africa and the Caribbean illustrate the diverse nature and origin of dolls of color.   Africa has a rich history of dolls, idols, and masks that influenced Picasso and The Cubists.   These dolls are made of wood, iron, other metals, cloth, beeswax, husks, all sorts of natural materials, and beads.   An interesting exercise is to assemble pictures or examples of Dolls and statues made in African countries by African artists and group them next to a selection of black dolls form other parts of the world.  The variety of the African dolls is astounding, but often, the dolls from other parts of the world are simply painted black or brown.  It is an interesting study of how the African people see themselves, and how some other parts of the world see them.

 

Yet, black or brown bisque dolls, and antique wooden dolls are also things of beauty. An ethnic papier mache doll attributed to Bru of the Rosalie Whyel collection and represents a tribal woman wearing leather and beads.  She could be the dignified woman associated with Kurtz in “Heart of Darkness.”  Bru dolls and French fashion dolls of brown bisque are astounding, as are automatons like Zula the Snake Charmer.  Zula once fetched a quarter of a million dollars at auction, and a light skinned, biracial Jumeau exhibition doll has been valued at $250,000.  Black Frozen Charlottes and China heads have a charm all their own and make an amazing collection.  Black wax dolls and Crèche figures of the Three Kings often provide unusual additions to doll collections.  Puppets and marionettes are also terrific finds.  For more of these, review Mary Hillier’s books Wax Dolls, Automata, Dolls and Doll Makers, and Chloe Preston and the Peek-A-Boos.  Also, check out Who won Second Place at Omaha about Lenon Hoyte’s museum, Aunt Len’s, once in Harlem.

 

Vintage black dolls include versions of Terri Lee, Nancy Ann Storybook Dolls, Chatty Cathy, Drowsy, Barbie, and Barbie’s friends as well as original creations like Afro Malaika, Ayoka and others by Annette Himstedt, Phillip Heath Dolls, Shindana toy babies, Ashanti, Florence Griffith Joyner,  Julia, Diana Ross, Redd Foxx, Jimmie Walker, Flip Wilson, Josephine Baker, Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids,  Butterfly McQueen,  M.C. Hammer, and Steve Urkel.

 

These dolls alone tell an amazing story.  Museums are devoted to them, and books are written about them. Like all dolls, they deserve to be curated, collected, and preserved as historical artifacts of humanity itself.