Xanthos Kontis Dolls Appear on Ebay

I was browsing the current historical doll offerings on Ebay the other day and came across several historical dolls produced by doll artist Xanthos Kontis in the 1950s. What caught my attention was the facial detail of the Benjamin Franklin doll and the felt coat with painted details. Several years ago I purchased a Benjamin Franklin doll that looked very similar to the one offered on Ebay except the coat was burgundy colored. The Ebay vendor that sold me the doll said it was a doll produced for the country's bicentennial in 1976 but maybe they were mistaken.

I searched the internet looking for more information about Xanthos Kontis and didn't find anything except more listings for other dolls he produced like the Father Knickerbocker (a character from a Washington Irving novel), at right and Thomas Jefferson and Father Juniper Serra, below). All I could find about the man (??) was a Pittsburg obituary for someone named Xanthos Kontis Contaridis dated November 4, 1994. This could be the right person based not only on his name but that one of the dolls offered on Ebay is a portrait of William Pitt - a historical character rarely encountered. It would be natural for a historical doll artist to produce a doll of the local favorite son. If anyone has any additional information about this doll artist I would be interested to learn more.

Kathy Redmond now offers dolls and porcelain busts directly from the artist online

I noticed today that consummate doll artist, Kathy Redmond, is now offering her work online both directly and through Ebay. She is currently offering an exquisite 16" doll of Czarina Alexandra Romanov. I only wish I could afford it. The opening bid is low but I know she has a very hefty reserve on the doll that places it out of my price range. However, I enjoyed looking at the pictures and dreaming!

When I clicked on the "Sellers other items" link I saw that she also had listed porcelain busts of the Czar and Czarina that, of course, were also beautifully done. I have managed to obtain only one doll produced by Kathy that is a commonly available small portrait doll of Alice Roosevelt that she created for the United Federation of Doll Clubs convention some years back.

I first noticed her work when I saw her Henry VIII and his wives (seen here is Catherine Parr, Henry's sixth and final wife) displayed in the collection of the Enchanted World of Dolls Museum in Mitchell, South Dakota. (Alas - I see they have closed their doors! What a pity! I enjoyed my visit there immensely. To see other dolls in their collection, view my Flickr set of images from the museum.)

According to Kathy's website, Kathy "is a sculptor based in the Kingston, PA area who makes hand-sculpted, porcelain-portrait figurines. She is a nationally known artist whose figurines adorn countless private collections. Her primary inspiration comes from historical personalities and entertainment figures of the modern era. She has honored hundreds of private commissions for familial (including bridal & baby) portraits.

She is most well known for her historical doll sculptures and has exhibited at twenty-eight national conventions of the “United Federation of Doll Clubs” covering twenty-one states. For six of these conventions, she has been commissioned to create a souvenir doll. She has also performed commissions for Tom Monaghan (former owner of the Detroit Tigers & Domino’s Pizza) and for the Franklin Mint...which consisted of a bisque porcelain sculpture of Marie Antoinette commissioned for the Bicentennial of the French Revolution (1789-1989) which was to be released in France only. Another work is that of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton which is being held for the opening of the Bill Clinton Presidential Library in Arkansas.

She has also created exhibits of her work for several prestigious museums... including the “Victoria & Albert Museum”- Bethnal Green in London, England. Redmond Porcelain has been represented in multiple national newspapers and magazine articles and featured in the mainstream book market in collections of contemporary art."

Perhaps I will get to see more of her work if I manage to visit the Victoria and Albert Museum when I am in London later this summer.

Lee Ed's bisque shoulder head dolls

I noticed this interesting bisque doll by Lee Ed up on Ebay. Further research indicates Lee Ed produced a number of shoulder head bisque dolls in the mid 1950s. This particular doll, created in 1955, is Napoleon's first girlfriend and one-time fiancee, Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary. The doll is beautifully sculpted and detailed and measures 17" high. Since I spend most of my time studying the ancient world rather than Napoleon's era, I had never heard of her. Although she was engaged to Napoleon Bonaparte, she eventually married Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, and crowned Queen Desideria of Sweden.

Désirée Clary was born in Marseille, France, the daughter of François Clary, a wealthy silk manufacturer and merchant, and his second wife Françoise Rose Somis.

"Her husband was appointed governor of Hanover in 1804-1805, Prince of Pontecorvo 1806 and was one the leading generals in the French Napoleonic army; he was made heir to the Swedish throne in 1810 and, after success in war, to the Norwegian throne in 1814.

They had only one child, Oscar, who eventually became King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway (17991859).

Desirée visited Sweden for the first time in 1810 but could not accustom herself to the demands of formal court etiquette. She was said to have been treated with a certain snobbery by the court and especially the queen, Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, though the old dowager queen Sophia Magdalena of Denmark was kind to her. The climate was also a shock. It must be added, however, that according to descriptions, she seems to have behaved in a very "spoiled" manner and made no attempt to be liked, as she had never wished to be a queen and did not want to move so far away from her family. She left Sweden in 1811 under the name of "Countess of Gotland", officially because of her health, and returned to Paris. There she stayed for twelve years, leaving not only her husband but also her son behind. She herself said that the Swedish nobility had treated her as if they were made of ice: "Do not talk with me of Sweden, I get a cold as soon as I hear the word."^{[citation needed]} In 1818, her husband became king, but she remained in Paris. In Sweden, her husband took a mistress, the noblewoman Mariana Koskull.

In 1823, Desiree returned to Sweden together with her son's bride, Josephine of Leuchtenberg, and in 1829, she was crowned queen at her own request. The 1830s were a period when she did her best to be active as a queen, a role she had never wanted to play. The decade is described as a time of balls and parties, more than had been seen at the Swedish court since the days of King Gustav III of Sweden, but Desiree soon grew tired of her royal status and wanted to return to France; her husband wouldn't allow it. She never became very popular and never learned to speak Swedish. After she was widowed, she grew more and more eccentric; she went to bed in the morning, she got up in the evening, she ate breakfast at night, and she drove around in a carriage through the streets, in the courtyard, or wandered around the corridors of the sleeping castle with a light. On the last day of her life, she entered her box at the opera just as the performance had ended." - Wikipedia

The novel Désirée by Annemarie Selinko is based on actual events in her life and was made into a movie, Désirée (1954), an American film with Jean Simmons and Marlon Brando.

South Africa home to Miniatures' Artist Debbie Dixon-Paver

This morning I was pruning my e-mail inbox and came across a message I had almost forgotten that arrived while I was in New York. Debbie Dixon-Paver is a miniature doll artist living in South Africa. She had come across the website featuring the historical figures of George Stuart and had emailed the contact address asking when more of his figures were scheduled to be added to the website. As the programmer for Mr. Stuart's website, I am copied on emails sent to it so I replied to her that we are presently working on the addition of figures of the Bourbon Dynasty to the website and should have them online by September.

Debbie emailed me back when she realized I was the doll enthusiast with the extensive historical collection she had seen online and included images of some of her wonderful miniature groups. They are part of a collection she calls "Songbook" because she used song titles as inspiration for them. I found them meticulously detailed with realistic faces. Even the puppetmaker's tiny creations had finely detailed features and costumes. I was able to instantly recognize Henry VIII! The gentle face of her peddler woman as she gazes at her sweet little apprentice is quite poignant. The two little girls in their early 20th century beach suits are also quite winsome as they look up at the "medicine" man hawking his latest potion.

Debbie also depicts a brigand of the high seas to satisfy the customers who may be suffering from the latest craze of pirate worship stirred up by the series of films, "Pirates of the Carribean".

She also offers a salute to the "Free Love" generation of the 60s with her offering "Flower Children". I had to smile when I saw them since they still sport the trademark tie-dyed clothing but have gray hair and aging faces like so many of us from that period of time. Of course, seeing their colorfully decorated microbus and living here in Eugene, the home of one of the hippies' old icons, Ken Kesey, I couldn't help but think of his old flower-painted bus "Furthur" that trekked all the way to New York all those years ago.

"THE PUBLICATION OF Kesey's second novel Sometimes a Great Notion demanded his presence in New York, so Kesey bought a 1939 International Harvester school bus that he and the Merry Pranksters painted in day-glo colors, and outfitted it for a cross-country trip. With Neal Cassady at the wheel, they left La Honda in June 1964 and began their now legendary journey across the country, smoking marijuana, and dropping acid along the way. The top of the bus was made into a musical stage and when it detoured through some cities, the Pranksters blasted a combination of crude homemade music and running commentary to all the astonished onlookers. They arrived in New York in July after an arduous journey, whereupon Neal Cassady introduced them to Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Ginsberg embraced the new legends immediately and arranged for them to drive to Millbrook to meet the other psychedelic pioneer, Timothy Leary." - Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters, © 1998 by the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia.

I understand "Furthur" is being resurrected by Kesey's son, Zane. The local annual salute to the 60s, The Oregon Country Fair, was just held last week.

When I emailed Debbie to let her know I was featuring her work in this article she thanked me and included a link to her website. I was thrilled to see that she had produced a set called "Just The Two of Us" featuring Marc Antony and Cleopatra! As a Roman history buff I couldn't help but love them!

Polymer clay can be used to produce realistic historical dolls

I received an Ebay alert yesterday about a polymer clay OOAK Henry VIII doll by artist Jackie Seaman. Jackie appears to be a very talented sculptor as her Henry VIII is an excellent representation of the 16th century king.

Today I noticed that several more of her dolls were put up for bid. I particularly like the troubadour although her other dolls of a herald, a Tudor-period princess, and a Dutch matron are all nicely done as well.

I will probably need to learn the fundamentals of sculpting polymer clay so I can replace the face of one of my applehead dolls that the mice gobbled up. I have it displayed in an upstairs bedroom that I don't enter very often and when I was up there freshening the sheets for a visitor, I noticed that there was nothing left of my Viking applehead doll's face except a stub of wire that had secured his head. I'm glad I stored my applehead Henry VIII in a glass fronted cabinet!

In my research about polymer clay dolls I also stumbled across a website featuring the beautifully detailed Native American dolls created by artists Marge and Bud Bielefeld called "The Ancient Ones."

"We began making the 'ANCIENT ONES' over nine years ago. We had been enjoying the pow wow circuit crafting shields, hand carved talking and walking sticks, handbags, jewelry and more. During a pow wow someone asked if we had any dolls. Remembering Bud had sculpted and sold caricatures as a child, I suggested he try to sculpt some faces for me to "play" with.

Recently I joined Bud in the scuplting of the hands and faces. After a little encouragement and some trial and error, we began our line of the 'ANCIENT ONES'. We work as a team, as we enjoy and cherish the time we are able to spend together, giving birth to our creations."

I was also pleased to see they live right here in the Willamette Valley of Oregon!