The Magic and Romance of Art Dolls [signed] [first edition]

This volume combines fine art and fantasy into a photographic masterpiece. From the Willendorf Venus (circa 40,000 BCE), recognized as the first doll/idol, to the Art Deco era and the advent of the silver screen, THE MAGIC AND ROMANCE OF ART DOLLS reveals the richness and variety dolls have provided humanity since the beginning of time. This book, the only one of its kind, emphasizes the fashion and styling of one of the most creative and liberating eras-the Roaring Twenties. Introduced by world famous Art Deco artist and designer Erté, the book celebrates the amazing relationship of adults and dolls from the Ice Age to the present. The book is also a tribute to the Farago Collection, one of the largest cloth doll collections in the world. These dolls are among the rarest in existence since they are difficult to find and equally problematic to preserve in such fine condition. A stunning chapter is devoted to the outstanding works of the Lenci Company, its history and legacy. The influence of the silver screen is also unforgettably captured -- Rudolph Valentino, Marlene Dietrich, Charlie Chaplin and more in doll portraiture. Fantasies leap from the pages, with the most elaborate sets ever employed in doll reportage-an Art Deco lobby with elevator, a Surrealist French Café scene with city lights outside the window, a panoramic desert landscape of a hot Arabian night, a chilling snowscape, the circus, the boudoir, a mystic witch's drawing room, an Art Deco wedding, a Halloween intruder and a country Russian dance scene. With over 200 rare and extraordinarily beautiful dolls, the book includes selections from the Musée National, Collection de Galea in Monaco, the Musée Grevin, Monmartre in Paris, the Woodbury Strong Museum and the Museum of the City of New York as well as several private collections. The scope and detail revealed in these pages makes THE MAGIC AND ROMANCE OF ART DOLLS the classic work on the world's oldest sculptural art form-the doll.