Collection of Highly Expressive Native American Indian Head Dolls

Live Auction

8" (20 cm.) - 14". Each is sculpted from dried apples to create faces with highly expressive features, having black bead inset eyes, black human hair wig, and padded armature bodies posed to accentuate the costume. The set includes seven dolls involved in various occupations, including man carving a totem pole, woman seated with basket, man resting on his back with hat over his eyes, wood-gathering man with basket of branches, woman gathering driftwood, young girl and Chief. Generally excellent, light dustiness. An indigenous American folk art dating back centuries, the tradition of dried apple head dolls employs the basic tenet of folk art, that of the use of found objects at hand. By combining the easy availability of a basic material (in this case, the apple, in other cases scraps of wood or cloth, an old corn cob, or even a shell) with the imagination of the craftsman, creative vignettes of everyday life could be achieved. These particular models, according to notes kept by Shirley Temple, were created by Native Americans of the Northwest.