Doll

Nineteenth-century progress in doll making was extraordinary. In 1810 papier mâché was adapted in Germany for making dolls’ heads. Another of the major developments before 1850 was the introduction of ball joints, which gave dolls more natural limb flexibility. New materials included gutta-percha (a rubberlike Malayan gum), glazed porcelain, unglazed parian (a soft-bodied china), India rubber, and bisque (lustrous, unglazed ceramic ware). Imperfections were covered with gesso (a mixture of plaster of Paris and glue) before the dolls were painted. In the 1840s the Montanaris, a family of English doll makers, perfected wax for the construction of dolls’ heads; they also made some of the earliest “baby” dolls. Another 19th-century development was the cutout paper doll.

Events in the second half of the 19th century altered the course of the industry. At the same time, however, simple rag and corn-husk dolls remained popular, distinctively American products. In 1851 the Goodyear Rubber Company introduced vulcanized rubber dolls. In 1860 the first “baby” doll that could sit upright was shown in Europe. Manufacturers introduced metal heads in 1861 and celluloid heads in 1862. In the meantime, they experimented with “composition” (mixtures of varied pastes with other undisclosed ingredients), which could be molded into smooth, practically unbreakable heads and limbs. In 1865 the first American doll-manufacturing enterprise was founded, and at least ten similar operations were functioning in the United States by 1900. These firms imported French or German bisque and composition heads and limbs for assembly with domestically produced bodies. When the century ended, the overwhelming preference had changed from “lady” dolls to “baby” dolls made of bisque or composition. Such dolls resembled human infants but lacked certain human qualities.

European baby dolls with bent legs were introduced in 1909; in 1913 the “Kewpie,” one of the first American “character” dolls (dolls fashioned to resemble real or fictional personages), was introduced. These chubby-faced figures with pointed heads became very popular. “Raggedy Ann” was created in 1918. World War I (1914-1918) curtailed European doll production, but by 1917 American doll companies were for the first time able to produce satisfactory bisque. Americans also created the hot-pressed method for producing composition in 1916, and their composition doll heads became superior to all others. At the end of World War I it was clear that the United States had become a leading contender in doll manufacture. Noteworthy design innovations in dolls manufactured between 1925 and World War II (1939-1945) included sleeping eyes with lashes, dimples, open mouths with tiny teeth, fingers with nails, and latex-rubber dolls that could drink water and wet themselves.

After World War II, vinyl plastics provided doll makers with the kind of basic material they had long been seeking. Late 20th-century dolls of vinyl appear and feel alive, and many are equipped with various action features. Some of today’s dolls walk and have facial expressions that change. Hair can be repeatedly washed and styled because each strand is firmly embedded in the scalp. Popular character dolls include teenage “Barbie” dolls, launched in 1959, for which a variety of clothing and accessories is available; “Cabbage Patch Kids,” which enjoyed success in the United States and abroad in the mid-1980s; and lines of “action figures” based on characters from motion pictures and television programs.

For more than a century, doll collecting has been a popular hobby, and collections have been exhibited in museums throughout the world.