More About Hanna

A circa 1950s Hanna Fuhrer doll

This is Hanna, first seen and described in a blog post published on January 16, 2017.  As a refresher, Hanna was the first doll to be added to my collection in 2017.  This circa 1950s doll was made on the style of Sasha Morganthaler studio dolls.  She has a papier-mache-type mask face and brown cloth body.  She is very well made.  Her eBay seller described her wig as being made from an animal's hide.  Because the hair sheds, I made a cap for Hanna.  I named the doll after the Swiss artist who made her (the artist's signature and city are signed underneath the doll's shoes, Hanna Fuhrer, Zürich).

Other than her knit cap, which I made, Hanna is all original.

In October 2019, I received a message through my author page on Facebook that provided additional information about this doll.  The person who contacted me gave me permission to share the additional information in an update to my blog post about Hanna.  Instead of updating and adding length to the original post, I have created this separate post.  The initial message and the correspondence that followed are copied below:

"Hello Debbie, My name is Tim xxxxx and I’m sending this message regarding your doll by Hanna Fuhrer. She came from my ex-wife’s grandmother from Rottweil, Germany. She lived in Zurich after the war for a few years where she acquired the doll. She told my ex-wife that it was a very special doll but nobody in her family can remember why. We contacted a few doll specialists both in Germany and Switzerland and only received one reply from Zurich. This was more than 15 years ago and I don’t remember who they were but they mentioned Sasha Morgenthaler studio as a possible origin. We brought the doll to Denver from Rottweil in 2001 and sold her along with many other items probably in 2014.

I do hope you have better luck in finding out who Hanna Fuhrer is. Kind regards, Tim

I replied:

Thank you so much, Tim, for this additional information on my wonderful doll.  If you do not mind, for documentation purposes, I'd like to share what you've shared on my blog.  How in the world did you find me?

Tim replied:  I somehow stumbled upon your blog with the photos of her, I’m an antiques dealer and was just cruising the internet looking at doll sites and such because I recently came across some dolls from my mother's estate in Boston. Such a small world this internet has made! You are more than welcome to share any and all info. I have shared with you. I wrote my ex about this and she was delighted that you ended up with her, couldn’t have been a better place! Her grandmothers family name was Bilger, I’ve emailed my ex again for her first name, it may take a week or so for a response, she doesn’t have internet where she lives but goes to the city once a week or so.

I replied:

Thank you so much, Tim, for this additional information and for allowing me to include it on Hanna's blog post (I named the doll, Hanna).  The Internet has closed in our degrees of separation.   (I wrote more, but it wasn't related to Hanna... just some info to help Tim ID dolls from his mother's estate.)

_______

It is indeed a very small world here on the Internet.  More pictures of Hanna can be seen in the  original blog post about her:  https://blackdollcollecting.blogspot.com/2017/01/first-doll-to-arrive-in-2017.html 

dbg


There are countless items to collect and write about. Black dolls chose me.
__________
Thank you for following, commenting, and sharing using the share button below.

Check out what I am selling here. 
Check out my eBay listings here.
Please follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black.
Donate here to support this blog. Thank you!

First Doll to Arrive in 2017

19-inch doll with papier-mache head, cloth body, animal-hair wig

This interesting circa 1950s doll, presumed to have been made by the person whose handwritten signature is on the bottom of both shoes, was the first doll to arrive in 2017.  She stands 19-inches tall and has a papier-mache head; cloth arms, body, and legs.

Her distinct facial features include hand painted eyes, broad nose, full lips, and open nostrils.  The seller described her wig as being made of horse hair with visible hide.

She is dressed in heavyweight cotton floral-print dress with fabric-belted waist.  The dress appears to have been hand made just for her.

She wears white hand-knit undies and white nylon socks that I hand washed.  

The all-leather, hand-stitched brown shoes have a pearlized button closure on the front of the ankle straps. The bottom of the shoes are each signed "Hanna Fuhrer, Zürich."  Reminiscent initially to me of a Sasha Morgenthaler Studio Doll, but with broader facial features, I was intrigued upon first seeing the doll online and desired her presence in my collection.  Morgenthaler was also an artist from Switzerland.

Wendy Frank Native Australian doll (left) compared to the Fuhrer doll (right)

After her arrival and studying her facial features and overall construct, I came to the conclusion that this doll reminds me more of a Wendy Frank doll than a Morgenthaler Studio Doll.  My doll, however, was made long before Frank began making dolls.  Perhaps Frank was inspired by this artist and decided to fashion her dolls after a Fuhrer doll.  Frank's dolls have mask faces with several layers of paint applied, which gives the appearance of papier-mache. The hands of both artists' dolls are similarly stitched.   Frank's dolls have stitched toes, whereas the Fuhrer doll's feet are toeless (see next image).  As illustrated in the comparison photo, the facial similarities are too close for there not to have been a Fuhrer influence upon Frank's work, but perhaps the similarity is coincidental.

Fuhrer's doll's toeless feet and stitched hands are shown here  (There's a name for this type doll foot, but it escapes me.)

The doll's hair is very straight and thin.  Due to the thinness, my husband does not think it is horse hair ("unless it's from a Shetland pony," he said). 

Exposed animal hide has a folded area in the center of the head

Because I found the exposed animal hide a bit unnerving, shortly after her arrival, I made Hanna (I have named her after the artist) a knit hat using an infant-size sock.  Photos of the cap-making process follow:

The cuff of the sock was unfolded and cut just below the ridged area (as shown on right).   The cut area was bunched together and sewn to close the top.

After stitching the top of the sock closed and placing it on Hanna's head, the bottom was cuffed.  Now a cap, it needed some form of embellishment.

The Mod Podge-coated flower cutout is pinned, suspended, to a sponge makeup wedge as the Mod Podge dries.

I drew a flower onto card stock, cut it out, decoupaged it using Mod Podge, and glued the flower to a piece of brown felt.  The edges of the felt were trimmed to create a border for the flower.  Finally, the flower with attached felt was glued to the left side of the cap.

Drawn and decoupaged flower, glued to a piece of felt, which was later trimmed

With Hanna still wearing the cap, I glued the flower appliqué directly to the side of the cuff.  While the glue dried, several pieces of paper placed between the cuff of the cap and more placed underneath the cuff prevented the glue from seeping through to unwanted areas.

I think I love her.  No, I know I do.  She has a very solemn face and appears to be in deep thought.  I would like information about the artist and the exact time frame the doll was made (she could be from the '60s or as late as the 1970s).  Unfortunately, googling the name, "Hanna Furher" was unfruitful.


dbg
Follow my sister blog Ebony-Essence of Dolls in Black
Check out my eBay listings here.