The author's doll, in my opinion, loses very much because of what is called a “doll”. It should be called a sculpture, not a traditional one, but a sculpture that includes a costume, a wig, accessories, art painting on the face and body, and God knows what else.

Real master pupils must possess the multifaceted talent of a sculptor, artist, designer, tailor, hairdresser, as well as a carpenter, joiner, shoemaker and just a jack of all trades. (If you need to make something, see YouTube.) An art doll is always a work of the author, in which the spark of God lives, inspiring him to create something “in his own image and likeness.”

I am sure that the artist's creations can tell more about his inner world than a professional psychoanalyst.

In short, the author's doll is a completely unique layer of art, which is also one of the most democratic. Why? Firstly, you don't need a diploma to become a puppet master, although art education helps a lot. Many excellent craftsmen in the art of puppetry are self-taught. And secondly, art dolls, unlike original sculptures made in a single copy, are relatively cheap and available to many collectors.

Designer dolls enable collectors to acquire a unique work of art, one of a kind, which no one else has.

In my opinion, a good art doll is a doll that silently tells its story. If a doll evokes emotions, reflections, awakens imagination, this equates it with art.

So, what is an art doll and how is it different from a “non-art doll?”

There is no clear definition, since the creativity of puppeteers is infinite in its diversity: from primitive creations - “a stick, a stick, a cucumber, so a little man came out” - to the heights of artistic skill.

Therefore, many professional organizations that unite and support masters of puppetry, define an artistic doll as a creation of an artist, made in a single copy, by the artist's own hands, without using ready-made forms and parts. Nevertheless, copies of author's dolls made in limited copies (provided that the copies are made by the author himself) are also classified as artistic.

In my opinion, an art doll is different from all other dolls as the original painting of the artist is different from posters and reproductions.

Many puppeteers consider the work of the French artist Edgar Degas, made by him in 1881, to be the first author's art doll. It was a "Petite Danseuse" (Little Dancer) statuette, wearing a cloth dress.

Whether this is so or not, the little dancer combined sculpture and fabric in herself - what later became the traditional characteristic of an art doll. Since then, the doll began to move from a ritual object and a children's toy to a work of art.

The 20th century, with its technological innovations, put the production of dolls on the conveyor belt. Buying dolls became available to many, which also gave rise to a relatively new type of collecting - plangonolism, or simply - collecting dolls.

Doll collectors were divided into those who collected antique, rare and very expensive dolls, and those who bought their favorite mass-produced dolls of certain brands.

Art doll at that time was not yet popular, and the masters who created unique, unique author's dolls could be counted on one hand.

In the late 1930s, an American doll collector, Mary E. Lewis, came up with the idea to create a club for collectors and doll lovers. And in 1937, the first of its kind National Doll and Toy Collectors Club is born. And in 1949, the organization, which has grown across many states, grows into the United Federation of Doll Clubs, Inc., which organizes annual conventions and aims to educate and disseminate information about dolls, exhibit and sell dolls and communicate with collectors.

It was at these conventions of the United Federation of Doll Clubs that four women, talented artists, who independently created unique dolls, met and met.

These four women - Helen Bullard, Gertrude Florian, Magge Head and Fawn Zeller, united by love for dolls, enthusiasm and great ideas, formed the National Institute of American Doll Artists in May 1963. NIADA has become a center for the promotion and development of artistic puppetry. From that moment on, the art doll entered a new orbit and truly turned into high art.

Since the middle of the last century, designer dolls have become more and more popular in the USA and Europe. At exhibitions of designer dolls in New York and other major cities in the United States, long lines lined up wishing to see a new original art form. Collecting designer dolls has become fashionable among Western screen and sports stars.

Meanwhile, in Russia until the mid-80s, the art doll as a genre practically did not exist. Designer Elena Yazykova, considered one of the first puppeteers in Russia, organized the first doll gallery "Roza Azora" in the late 1980s, on the basis of which the Association of Russian puppeteers was later born.

A special feature of art dolls in Russia is that from the very beginning a very high standard for the quality of works was set for local artists. And the puppeteer painters of Russia, unlike their Western colleagues, overwhelmingly have a professional art education. Painters, sculptors, designers, theater and film artists, jewelers, animators, decorators have found ways of self-expression and realization in the art of designer dolls. That is why the artistic level of Russian dolls is very high.

Alexandra Khudyakova, chairman of the Russian Association of puppeteers, once said that "a real puppeteer must have a professional art education." “It is necessary to study drawing, painting, sculpture, and to know anatomy. .. When creating a work of art, it is necessary to imagine its cultural context, to know the history of art ... That is why we consider it necessary to clearly distinguish between real art and hobbies. Author's art dolls are not a hobby, but a profession in which real artists work. "

Alla Berezhkova
Atlanta, USA