Antique DOLL Collector March 2012 Vol. 15, No. 2
March 2012 Vol. 15, No. 2 $595 / $695 Canada www.antiquedollcollector.com
The
Bébé Huret by François Theimer
W
hen Calixte Huret was in charge of the family company, she took the creation of the Huret poupée very seriously, turning the doll into a toy meant to educate. The Huret doll had became an industrial and aesthetic reference. The snobbishness which surrounded its image, its high price due to the care brought to its creation and manufacture, almost exclusively on demand, its elegant outfits, sumptuous accessories and prestigious furniture, made it a true icon. A first generation of privileged young girls had played with her. Aware of her success and out of curiosity, Calixte continued to keep abreast of changes in the doll industry and evolution of styles. Visiting the Exposition Universelle of 1878, she was filled with wonder when she saw the newcomer – “the articulated bébé.” At this time, French society was evolving regarding attitudes toward children. Rousseau’s precepts that children are innocent and vulnerable, entitled to freedom and happiness, had turned into an extremist social tyranny. Perhaps much like the excessively spoiled children of today everything revolved around them. Children’s fashion had grown, much of it due to the imaginative outfits of the dolls, which were used as models for children’s clothing. Maternal instinct was promoted
Bébé Huret from the Lemoine period with pressed bisque head. The doll’s wooden bébé body is stamped Elisa Prevost. Old stock from the Lemoine period continued to be used until it was sold out. Private Collection 18
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Story in moralizing tales and sentimental engravings. Children’s literature had evolved as well, and society’s interest had moved to children between five and six years of age, those hardly out of infancy and much younger than the girl Calixte intended her doll for. Doll makers created the “articulated bébé” as an alter-ego of this young child. At the Exposition Universelle in 1878 Calixte saw the creations of Emile Louis Jumeau, whose father she used to know, and who had commissioned the famous sculptor Albert Ernest Carrier-Belleuse. She also observed that Leon Casimir Bru presented a wonderful bébé, the face of which had been realized by Barbedienne and with a silhouette which fairly imitated young children. Once again, she was guided by her enthusiasm and determination in spite of her years (she was 66). Using her own financial resources, she decided to have fun and create her own articulated Huret bébé even though she was no longer involved in the family company. The word “bébé” (baby) entered the national French vocabulary around 1841, through the intervention of children’s literature and the story of a real dwarf known as “Bébé,” who lived during the 18th century at the
Bébé Huret from the Lemoine period with gutta percha body and bisque hands. Collection La Maison de Poupées
The pudgy youthful face of Calixte Huret’s doll, circa 1880. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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The Dolls of Dora Petzold by Sara Bernstein
All original Dora Petzold dolls. The three center dolls have unusual chubby faces. All but the boy in the tuxedo have mohair wigs. The taller dolls have the face we associate with Petzold dolls. (See individual close-ups)
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t was a beautiful autumn morning. There was a chill in the air as I entered the auction gallery. The auctioneer, a tall lanky fellow who could sell ice to a polar bear in winter, was circulating the room schmoozing with the buyers. The usuals were there, Armand Marseille, Jumeau and Kestner just to name a few. I gave them a knowing glance, but was really looking for something different, something more elusive. As I perused the sales tables, a box caught my eye. It was a big box, a shabby box to say the least. Not the kind someone would expect to find any great treasure in. But, my curiosity was peaked and something pulled me to take a closer look. To my delight, I saw six faces staring back at me. Those faces were familiar. I knew I’d seen them before in some old book or catalog. Something was strikingly different about them. They weren’t bisque or the usual type of composition that dolls were made of. So I pulled out my flashlight for a better look. I picked up each doll. Upon closer inspection I found markings stamped on the body of each doll depicting a little girl holding a D and a P in her hands. Each doll also had markings on the sole ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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of the shoe. That mark looked familiar. Could these be the elusive dolls by German doll artist Dora Petzold? Now I was intrigued. Upon further examination I noticed that each of the six dolls had a socket-style flange head made of an unusually thin composition. Early American composition dolls were thicker, made from either hot pressed or cold pressed composition. The composition on these dolls was much thinner than the type I was familiar with. Each face had hand painted features, giving the doll a slightly different facial expression. All but one had a mohair wig, styled in a bob hairdo popular for children in the 1920’s. The dolls’ bodies were made of stockinet and they were dressed in original clothing, including shoes. Two of the dolls had wonderful tortoise coke bottle eye glasses, a popular style in the 1920’s. These also appeared to be original to the dolls. Three of the dolls were 14 inches tall. Theirs were the faces most recognizable as that of a Dora Petzold doll, a realistic long thin face, with a somber expression. One of these dolls was a boy in pants and two were girls. Their clothing was made of felt and the shoes
were faux leather with pointy toes. The other three dolls were made in the same manner but their facial and body shapes were very different from the typical Dora Petzold dolls pictured in the reference books. If these three dolls were not stamped with the Dora Petzold mark, the little girl holding the DP, identifying them would have been very difficult. These three were smaller than the others. They were only 13 inches tall and each doll had an uncharacteristically round, chubby face. Two were girls with mohair wigs, dressed in the original lace clothing, like ballerinas. The third was a dapper young fellow with molded hair, dressed in a felt tuxedo. Finding one Dora Petzold doll is rare, but finding a box with six Dora Petzold dolls, all in original clothing and two who were boys was very exciting. The auction was about to begin. The sale moved at a steady pace, and though I was tempted by other dolls, I was holding out for that shabby box with the Dora Petzold dolls. After a long, patient wait, the box finally came up. The bidding was competitive but with resolve the box became mine.
Now I wanted to find out more about Dora Petzold and her dolls. Searching the internet was to no avail. So back to the tried and true method of investigation, digging through the dusty shelves filled with research books, and sorting through stacks of old doll magazines. After hours of searching, amazingly I discovered how little information there is about this talented artist and her dolls. Information on Dora Petzold was almost as elusive as her dolls. Determined, I was not ready to give up. After some further digging, I was able to discover a glimpse into the doll maker’s artistic beliefs and the possible force behind her desire to make dolls. Since very little can be found about Dora Petzold, the person, an artist’s work often speaks volumes. In early 1900 the German doll industry was the major manufacturer of bisque dolls. About half of the world’s total output of dolls came from Germany. The main doll manufacturing areas were in the Thuringia and Bavaria, areas that were the traditional doll making centers for generations. The dolls were mostly the mass produced ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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Lenci-Likes to Love by Judy Fisher
Photos by Rick Fisher
Is it or isn’t it a Lenci?
Yes, that is the question! The participants who attended the two seminars titled “Little Lenci Dolls: How to Identify, Care and Repair” that I conducted at the July 2011 UFDC Convention in Anaheim, California were asked this very question. As an educator, I thought it would be fun to give the participants a quiz at the end of the seminar to see how well they learned to identify a true Lenci from a so-called Lenci-like doll.
Lenci baby with duck. Her outfit is special from the hat down to the diaper and finally the shoes.
N.A.T.I. girl with rooster. She has great hair, hoop earrings, and a wonderfully detailed rooster with similar shoes to the Lenci. ANTIQUE DOLL COLLECTOR
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