A dip in the ottoman, part 1

After a dip into the ottoman, during a recent trip back to South Lodge where Sarah spent her last few happy years, it occured to me that I have no idea how many dolls she made. 

My (detailed) photograph of her from the ottoman.

Original photograph from the archives.

Stored in this giant ottoman are a small selection of dolls, of which I already have photographs for dating back to the late 70's/early 80's. These dolls were either ones that didn't sell in the end, were too treasured to be let go of or even flawed in some way making them worthless. I have no idea which. 

My (detailed) photograph from the ottoman

Original photograph from the archives.

Did Sarah make a point of photographically cataloguing all her dolls, or were some left out? I have many letters of gratitude and love for a doll which has just arrived and now has pride of place; letters congratulating Sarah on the fine quality and detail of the doll, expressing what kind of personality they feel it has. Can I work out, by the letters of thanks, which ones sold to whom?
 
I need to set aside some time to study all the photographs, both old and new, and see which repeat and which I have very little evidence of. I haven't found any evidence of names given to each doll...so it will be descriptions and guess work.

A project for a quiet rainy day with no other pressing chores to do....

Girl in an armchair

Look what arrived in an email this morning!

I remember my mother making these....she gave them to her close friend Fran, who has emailed these photos to me. Fran says Sarah gave most of the prototypes to her, for either birthday or christmas presents - these two she treasures the most.

'Girl in an armchair' is in the same style as my 'Lady on a Sofa'. It is Sarah's early beginnings with painted calico; making a textile padded painting and playing with perspective. She painted seperate pieces of the fabric with acyrlic paint, then layered them together using wadding and stuffing between the layers, making them semi-3d. By this time, Sarah wasn't making her more traditional dolls.

Sarah made a lot of these harlequin dolls and sold them at a local shop in Helmsley. I helped her piece the bodies together. I have seen similar, but older, harlequin dolls like this appearing on Ebay, so perhaps those inspired Sarah to make her own version with all her left over scraps of fabric! Despite not making her traditional dolls at this time, she still painted her beautiful stylised signature faces.

I know for certain that Sarah made a few dolls for Liberty, using their fabrics. The only evidence I have found for this is a letter of enquiry from Liberty address to her, and nothing else. It has also been mentioned by a family member, but no-one seems to recall any details. A line of enquiry I should pick up.... 

The Archive Folder

It's been a while since I updated this journal, as I decided to wait until I had Sarah Jane Fisher's archive folder in my possession, before embarking on emails to organisations and such like.

It was worth waiting; her archive contains some stunning photographs of some of her dolls. They have been professionally photographed and printed so the quality is superb. 

I felt very emotional looking at these beautiful dolls that my mother created and hope, so hope, that they still exist in the world. What a tragedy it would be if they'd not been looked after then eventually thrown out as rubbish by a relative of the original owner.

Someone has recently reflected on how much soul these dolls express; so true.

Also, in the archive, there are many letters of thanks and enquiries and compliments, most are from either America or Australia.

I shall upload some more photographs soon, with extracts from some of the letters....

'Sarah Jane Fisher: The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls' The Antiques Journal 1980

Soon to arrive...

...'The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls'!

There is a copy on it's way - found in Sarah's archive by her husband David. He's going to post it down to me, so hopefully it will arrive within a few days.
I can scan the full article and put it up here for people to read at their leisure.

And back to the NIADA problem...

It has been suggested that I write a blanket email to all members of the NIADA, in the hope that someone might read it and see if they can help me out. 

What I am hoping for is an opportunity to post one or two images onto their website or Facebook page in the hope that someone, eventually, might recognise Sarah's style and say something along the lines of "Hey, I've seen a doll like that" or "my Great-Aunty has a doll which looks a bit like that". 
A photograph could be emailed to me to post up here; and there we have one of Sarah's dolls that has been kept in someone's private collection, or purely for their love of Sarah's doll, after all this time.

Who knows. It could happen?

NIADA - 12 days

 Well, it's been 12 days since I sent an email to the NIADA and have heard nothing back. In my email I asked for permission to post onto their Facebook page an image of one of Sarah's early dolls, to see if anyone recognised the style of it.  I didn't want to just go ahead and do it, in case I jeopordized the possibility of a positive reply from them.

Should I go ahead and do it now, or should I write to another member of the NIADA and hope for a reply from them? I'm not sure what would be best - maybe I need to be patient. The people who run the NIADA could be inundated with emails and work voluntarily.

I was so hopeful for some kind of reply from them by now.

Any suggestions?






http://www.niada.org/

Sarah Jane Fisher did, in fact, hate dolls...

Ok, I need to improve my research skills.

Another very kind member of the family, who is also interested in my blog about my late mother, Sarah Jane Fisher, has done a bit more research into the article I mentioned a few posts ago.

She has discovered that 'Sarah Jane Fisher - The Dollmaker Who Hated Dolls' is in fact written about my mother. Although the whole journal is not accessible online, a few extracts are viewable if the right keys words are used in the search (I have learnt).

     “As a child, Sarah Jane Fisher had no interest in dolls whatsoever. In fact she despised people even remotely interested in them. But childhood was very special in those days, and she spent hers in the market town of Malton in Yorkshire...”

Sarah was obsessed with hobby horses as a child, at her family home in Malton! I believe she was very much a tomboy - but I don't recall her saying she hated dolls...

      “Painting the faces is her favourite part of dollmaking. Herein lies the real heart and soul of a doll and signature and expertise of the real artist. Botch the face and the doll is worthless. For Sarah Jane painting... “

Sarah's dolls definitely show that painting faces was her favourite part...and interestingly the word 'signature' is used. I'd struggled to find the right word when I was trying to say a little about the dolls' faces, and signature was what seemed appropriate. And it's true - the heart and soul of a doll is in it's face.

I'd dismissed this interview due to it's title; it hadn't occured to me that it was referring to Sarah as a child - but it makes for a catchy headline!
Now I need to see if this article has been stored away somewhere in Sarah's archives, but if not, it is possible to purchase a copy of the journal. I'm looking foward to having a look through these archives in February...

Mum gave me 'Lady on a Sofa'. I fell in love with it the moment I saw it, about 20 years ago.

Thank you to Corinne for doing what I should have done, and followed this up more thoroughly!

Much Loved Mermaid

Ella's mermaid

Detail of Ella's mermaid

I have this very sweet mermaid to add today. Sarah made this mermaid for one of her friend's daughters, approximately 20 years ago. You can see what a well loved life this mermaid has had!

Thank you to Ella for bringing her over to photograph, so I can add her to this blog.

 

New photographs and updates

William has heard back from his enquiry about the possible article.  He has been told: "the Australian National Library’s database “Trove” is in error in this instance. Our university does not, in fact, hold The Antiques Journal at all."
But a big thank you to William for following it up.

As yet, I have not heard back from the NIADA...I hope I will.

BUT it's not all disappointing news because Sarah's brother Tren has very kindly photographed four dolls she made for his family. They are so beautiful. It is fascinating to see other examples of her work, some of which I vaguely remember and others are a surprise. Sarah had a particular face style which doesn't appear to have varied much between her dolls - but it is like her signature; it makes her dolls stand out from others and would be easily recognisable if any surfaced. Her faces are, for me, definitely reminiscent of the era in which she developed a special interest in dolls. I will talk about Sarah's college years another time.
Here are the delightful dolls in Tren's collection:

"Ooops!" I hear you say; she's forgotten to include the fourth photo.
The fourth doll leads me onto another avenue of Sarah's dollmaking career...

Made contact with NIADA

 Well this evening I managed to find some contact details for the NIADA and send an email! Fingers crossed I hear back from the lady I wrote to, or one of the other members of the NIADA.

NIADA stands for National Institure of American Doll Artists. It's an organisation that supports handmade doll artists worldwide, and was founded in 1963. If Sarah's dolls found a network of collectors in America, I wonder if she, or her dolls, have featured in any early publications the NIADA may have produced?

It's hard to know how to pitch an email of this nature. It musn't be sentimental, but this is obviously a very personal journey. I am asking anyone I contact to spend a bit of their precious time looking in archives, or point me in the right direction...or even run a small feature on Sarah Jane Fisher's dolls to see if anyone out there has one, remembers them or seen them displayed anywhere. 
I hope I have pitched it right...

If anyone would like to read a bit about the NIADA, here is the link:  http://www.niada.org/about.html

And in the meantime, I found an old photo of one of Sarah's dolls in an album. The photo itself is slightly out of focus.

The dollmaker who hated dolls?

My last general google search for "Sarah Jane Fisher dollmaker" came up with this:
http://trove.nla.gov.au/work/93960927?q=sarah+jane+fisher&c=article&versionId=107301035

A family member, William, has also mentioned it to me and wondered whether it might be an article about Sarah.

I'm not sure.

I know for a fact that my mother loved dolls. The title of this archive article is

Sarah Jane Fisher: the dollmaker who hated dolls. 

The date the article was written fits with the time period that Sarah was actively selling her work, but it just doesn't sound like her. But I could be wrong!

I have tried to read the article, but it's not available online. William has contacted the Australian National Library so we'll see if anything comes of it.

It will be interesting to see what clippings and snippets of information Sarah kept in her file, but I like the idea of trying to find her dolls without her help...
 

A Sasha Doll Connection

Two Sasha dolls belonging to my daughters. Gifts from their late grandmother - Sarah Jane Fisher.

The Sasha doll.
They have a massive world wide following; they are fought over on auction sites; people collect them passionately and dedicate their lives to searching for their perfect Sasha.

Sarah was very proud of her connection with the Sasha doll. She tried to inject information about her father, Bryan Fisher and his involvement in their production, into the world of Sasha enthusiasts as he is never mentioned in their history.

Sasha dolls were designed and named by Sasha Morgenthaler who lived in Switzerland, in 1963. In 1966 the production of the dolls moved to the UK, with Frido Ltd in Stockport.

In the meantime, Bryan Fisher, Sarah Jane Fisher's father, had founded a company called Trendon. The name 'Trendon' derived from a combination of Bryan's two sons' names. The company originally produced plastic injection moulded parts for the motor industry, but swiftly moved into toy production with their innovative use of plastic; plastic used in its own right rather than as a substitute for wood or metal. Bryan, together with a young graduate Patrick Rylands, produced Playplax which became extremely popular and won Design Centre status.

By the late 60's Trendon toys were being exported to the States by Stephen Miller; he and Bryan became good friends. Stephen also met Sasha Morgenthaler and they too become firm friends, and he exported her handmade dolls to New York (not Sasha dolls).

In 1969 Frido Ltd wanted to break into the designer toy outlets with the Sasha doll. They approached Brooke Bond, who had bought out Trendon as an investment, with a proposal to buy Trendon Toys. Trendon Toys had, by this time, become pioneers in the plastic toy world; producing design classics which currently feature at the Design Museum in London. There was also their innovative use and creation of plastic itself which enhanced the Sasha doll. The transfer took place and Trendon Toys moved to Stockport, including Bryan Fisher and most of the staff. 

It was unfortunate that John and Sara Dogget of Frido Ltd and Bryan did not see eye to eye in the future of the combined companies. Frido Ltd wanted to exclusively produce the Sasha Dolls, whereas Bryan wanted to continue to produce and sell other toys too. They couldn't agree, and Bryan left the company (I don't know what year). I believe this is the reason why Bryan is never mentioned in the history of the Sasha doll; he left under a cloud of bad feeling. Frido Ltd then stopped producing Sasha dolls in 1986.

Bryan went on to produce and market a life size skeleton out of cardboard and smaller animals; as home construction kits in the 80's. This skeleton was designed by his friend Rick Miller - it is still available to buy today, through Taschen.

The Human Skeleton, designed and produced by Rick Miller and  Bryan Fisher

Thank you to Gladys Whitaker for her detailed information on Bryan and the Trendon days. Gladys worked for Trendon for 4 years and went on to be a close friend to Bryan until he died in 1997.



(apologies to my brother for accidentally removing his comment in my last post - I can't get it back!)

British Doll Association

Sarah had a few of her dolls featured in publications by the British Doll Assocation. When I have access to her archive of photographs, newspaper cuttings etc, I will be able to put up copies of these.
In the meantime, I decided to make a start by searching for the British Doll Association website and perhaps make contact with them; see if they have any records of Sarah Jane Fisher in their archives.

I've hit a brick wall. The BDA no longer exists and the founder of the company died in 1992.

This is what I found, from Brighton and Hove City Council in relation to some sort of 25th anniversary exhibition of dolls. There is no date, so I'm not sure when this exhibition took place:

       "The British Doll Artist Association was founded by the late Ann Parker in 1979 in order to enable the many artists working in isolation to get to know each other and to combine to exhibit their work.  Ann was a world-renowned doll artist and a Foreign Associate Member of the National Institute of American Doll Artists.  She worked unceasingly for the benefit of the BDA and in gratitude for all her efforts, on their behalf, she was made President of the Association shortly before she died in 1992.

In the early days of the BDA one of the difficulties was to separate original work from reproduction antique dolls. A reproduction artist doll is one made from a mould that has been made available either directly or indirectly from the artist who was responsible for the original sculpture of the doll.  An original doll, on the other hand, is one made entirely by the artist the sculpture, pattern drafting, painting and finish all by the artist concerned.

The BDA disbanded in October 2005 but the role of the original doll artist continues to diversify.  While most still produce complete and finished dolls, some now also produce dolls in kit form for others to assemble some design patterns for publication or write books some produce sculptures for commercial doll makers or mould makers and others offer classes and workshops in various aspects of doll making." 

I have looked up British Doll Artist Association and that no longer appears to exist either.

Any suggestions on leads to follow from this?

Big Eyed Beauty

Very stylised 70's doll, with a floppy body - no joints. Sarah made this doll for her best friend Fran, who has recently returned it to us, for my daughters (not to play with!). I think, but can't be sure, that this dolls face has suffered some fading or discolouration... I can't work out if orginally the doll had a darker painted face which has faded or a white unpainted face which has been tainted by oil from the paint used. Whatever may have happened...she is still a beautiful doll.

Early Example

This lovely doll is a typical example of the kind of doll that Sarah sold extensively in the 1970's and early 80's. She is has jointed shoulders and hips so the legs and arms move and she is entirely made of cloth. I need to work out how the dolls head has been made - I should be able to remember as I was a child when mum made these - it looks like moulded felt.
The attention to detail is exquisite...

The Green Buddah

'The Green Buddah'
Handpainted canvas with raffeta hair.
Made, I believe, in the 1980's

Journey Begins

So where to I start?

I will begin by surfing the internet for collectors of dolls. I expect there will be quite a few...

In the meantime I'll post up photos of dolls and artwork Sarah made more recently than the 1970's; images she sent me and others in my possession.
With her artwork, I will endevour to remember what she told me about her very personal pieces.

Please add comments - your thoughts about her work, and advice about where to search for her dolls...