Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Black Dolls from Around the World - Germany (Modern)


Candy by Rolanda Heimer for Zapf and Filipo a Dribble Baby (now Felicia) by Carin Lossnitzer for Gotz

German-based manufacturers, Gotz and Zapf, have produced both modern play line and exquisite artist dolls.


Angelica and Aaron by Philip Heath/Gotz

From Gotz, dolls by British-born artist, Philip Heath are amazing! Two examples are Angelica and Aaron. Aaron is 39 inches and Angelica is 38 inches. Angelica has multiple points of articulation allowing this breathtaking beauty to either sit or stand.  After leaving Gotz, Heath moved to Spain where he opened his own doll factory.

Other former Gotz artists include Elissa Glassgold, Yoke Grobben, Ulrike Hutt, and Elizabeth Lindner.

From Zapf, lovely dark-skinned artist dolls by Bettina Feigenspan, Elissa Glassgold, and others have been offered.

No longer producing artist dolls, Gotz and Zapf play line dolls are still available.  These are high quality dolls with sleep eyes, rooted or molded hair, usually made of vinyl with cloth bodies. 

I took several headshots and full-view images of dolls manufactured in Germany by the two aforementioned companies and/or by German doll artists or artists who utilized these manufacturers to distribute their dolls.  In addition, dolls by other German artists (Annette Himstedt, Heidi Plusczok, and Ruth Treffeisen) were photographed.  These images can be viewed as a slideshow or individually by clicking here.

Interesting Article on Philip Heath:
http://www.talisman.org/~snowbear/articles/heatharticle

5 comments:

  1. These dolls are lovely. Aaron truly reminds me of a student I once had. So lifelike and realistic. What fabulous doll artists.

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  2. Thanks for commenting, Hugs. Philip Heath, Aaron's artist, usually sculpted dolls fashioned after real children. Aaron is no exception. The original Aaron was porcelain from which vinyl dolls were produced in two separate limited editions.

    Heath met the real Aaron at a foster home when he was approximately 5 and was allowed to photograph and sculpt the portrait doll. I believe Aaron was eventually adopted by a loving family. I have a copy of the book, Portrait of Aaron, which includes photographs of the young boy. Heath adequately captured his likeness. In this book, he writes, "With all my love to Aaron, a little African American boy, whose beauty, spirit and expression became the figure-head of this project, and who filled my year with hope!"

    dbg

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  3. Knowing that Aaron (the doll) was sculpted after a real little boy just makes the doll that much more special. What a cutie pie!

    I am so glad to know that the real Aaron found his forever home. :0) The other dolls are beautiful too but there is just something about the Aaron doll that just tugs at my heart.

    The expression on his face is priceless. He knows that in order to go outside and play with those cars he's holding, he has to first make up his bed. He doesn't want to hear Mama lecture about it anymore. He just wants to get right to it so he can go outside to have fun. But Mama is continuing to go on and on...blah, blah, blah. LOL

    I've seen this look on my son's face a thousand times. The artist really captured the essence of a true boy. I love it.

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  4. theres is a fandom about the gotz dolls but i wish i could see a full catalog of the dolls

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