Circa 1940s Papier Mâché Older Woman

Circa 1940s papier mâché woman

Found on eBay in November 2017, this circa 1940s one-of-a-kind, hand-sculpted, unmarked elderly woman is made of papier mâché and cloth.

Closeup of circa 1940s elder

Because her head sculpt reminds me of dolls by the late I. Roberta Bell, I added her to my collection.  She is unmarked. Ms. Bell made dolls during the 1940s; however, it is the unknown if she created her own molds thus earlier. Documented early dolls made by Bell use china heads.  This doll's entry in my Excel doll inventory workbook fully describes her as follows:

Circa 1940s Elderly Woman:  13 inches tall, made of a papier mâché or clay, one-of-a-kind with hand sculpted features. Facial features are painted.  Black mohair used for bangs and hair at shoulders underneath red bandanna headscarf that is tied at top center of head. Has brown cloth body with mature bosom; cloth arms, and legs.  Feet and hands are same material as face.  Wears blue floral dress with white (yellowed with age) organdy apron trimmed in red rickrack with pocket that holds a red bandanna handkerchief; wears white cotton slip and matching pantaloons. Has painted-on black shoes.

This photo illustrates her white pantaloons, her mostly brown cloth legs, lower papier mâché legs, and painted-on black shoes.

The seller indicated the firmer surfaces of the doll are possibly made of clay; however, her face, hands, lower legs, and feet are very lightweight, much lighter than clays that would have been used in dollmaking in the 1940s.

This doll has a bent (to sit) posture.

Her body was crafted for sitting, but she can also stand with the assistance of a doll stand and still appear to be standing.

The dress might have been made from flour sack or feed sack material.

The fabric of her dress appears to have been made from flour sack or feed sack material, which was often repurposed to fashion into everything from dish towels to clothing in the early-to-mid 1900s.  See another doll that wears a dress made from feed sack here.

In the group photo above, she fits in quite nicely with other, mostly early 1900s dolls with a few modern girls and guys thrown into the mix.  Can you find her?

Update: I originally classified this doll as a mammy solely based on the headscarf and apron. Because many Black elderly women, who did not work outside the home, tied their hair with headscarves and wore aprons as a utility while cooking, I cannot classify dolls as mammies based on headscarves and aprons alone. This was often part of many southern elderly Black women's daily attire.

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