Our last post reported on member Jenell Howell's delightful and informative program on dolls designed by American artist Dewees Cochran. However, there were many women who designed and made dolls. This handsome lad taking his canine pal out for a stroll is by German doll artist and maker Käthe Kruse. Kruse first began making dolls for her own daughters because she disliked the available commercially-made toys. In 1910, she displayed some of her dolls in a Berlin department store and they were so popular she began producing them commercially. These early cloth dolls were renowned for their hand-painted faces. The Kruse company is still in business today, producing cloth and vinyl dolls. This doll belongs to member Sylvia McDonald and was the childhood toy of her great-aunt, who was born in 1902. Sylvia thinks her aunt received the doll around 1912. He still has his original box and a wardrobe of clothes. This doll was a runner up in the Käthe Kruse Contest held by the Contemporary Doll Collector magazine in 2005.
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