#37

Outstanding German Bisque Art Character, "Karl", Model 107, by Kammer and Reinhardt, with Provenance
Live Auction

$26,000
sold
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Description
22" (55 cm.) Bisque socket head depicting a slender-faced serious lad, firmly-set jaw with well-defined chin, painted blue eyes, black upper eyeliner, one-stroke brows, accented nostrils, closed mouth with full lips, brunette mohair bobbed wig, composition and wooden ball-jointed body. Condition: generally excellent, original body and body finish. Marks: K*R 107 55. Comments: Kammer and Reinhardt from their art character reform series, circa 1910, the doll was modeled under commission from the Berlin artist, Arthur Lewin-Funcke, based upon his original bronze sculpture "Portrait of a Boy" and marketed by K*R as "Karl". The identity of this famous sculptor was not known until 1991 when research in German archives by Jurgen and Marianne Cieslik made the important discovery. The doll firm and the sculptor had deliberately kept their alliance private as the doll enterprise was considered a commercial endeavor antithetical to the art community in which Lewin-Funcke was famed. Cieslik noted, "Lewin-Funcke had taken his secret of being the father of the character doll movement to his grave in 1937" (German Doll Studies, page 227). Value Points: outstanding example of the very rare model, of which only a very few examples were made in this large size, with superlative bisque, modeling, state of preservation and original costume. Provenance: The doll is photographed on the cover of Doll News, November 1969 with the following frontispiece note: "German bisque boy doll purchased by U.F.D.C. for presentation to Betty Brink on her retirement as President of our organization on August 10, 1969 in New Orleans. Let Betty herself describe him: 閰崁eddie, named for Frederation, is the rare K*R 107 boy,..His shoes are worn at the toes, his stockings the old black ribbed, his suit herringbone with black velvet collar. He is in [sic]deadly earnest about life, liberty and the pursuit of education". A copy of that issue of Doll News is included.