Albert Marque, a Sculptor, a Doll The quintessence of the doll and the child in a masterpiece of art; It is the doll made by the sculptor Albert Marque in 1916. To produce his doll, Albert Marque used the very contemporary expression and silhouette of a young girl of his time, as well as ancient statuary. He transcented a decorative art object by sublimating it conferring the statute of icon for antique dolls collectors. Actually this gorgeous doll is made during the periodcalled « Rebirth of the french doll »,soon after the first world war. It is due to the initiative, less of industrialists than of women, who managed to put their instincts of kindness and beauty into practice. Beauty had also his turn. The Parisian Lady initially bought the dolls which she entrusted to the workers to be dressedup but she realized that these dolls, almost all German had inexpressive faces,badly made bodies, similar to,effigies slashed in gaiac wood. The idea of using a noted sculptor to realize the face of a doll was the idea of a woman: Miss Huret, the first woman entering the French doll industry in 1850. Once the sculpture of a young girl was completed, Albert Marque turned it into a doll head by moulding it in order to reproduce several items. The choosen material for the head was ceramics, especially bisque, in the way of luxury dolls of time, the plaster matrix was intented for the realization of a restricted number of moulds. Each mould could give a maximum of 100 signed specimens among which about half could suffer damage. The doll head by Marque was produced with the Porcelain factory of Sèvres (France). The eyes came from a Parisian supplier as well as the wig made with mohair or human hair. A third of the models had brown eyes and two thirds blue eyes. The arms are in biscuit porcelain, eyes fixed in email. The numbering of the doll appear on the neckor on the sole of a foot.
Albert Marque dolls at the Carnegie Museum They were 40 of them bought at the end of 1915 and arrived in Pittsburgh in
April 1926. Many of them wear the costumes of the Queeens of France, other wear regional costumes. During a long time, they were presented in a permanent exhibit in a large showcase on wooden steps. One day, in 1956, it was decided that this permanent spot was to be used for changing exhibits. The dolls were then stored in their original boxes with their label « Margaine Lacroix/ Albert Marque ». In 1977, the curator of the museum reorganized the entire collection. Today it would be interesting to know if these dolls exist, maybe relagated to some reserve, or if they were sold. However, only a hundred MARQUE have been produced around 1920, and a very little of them in pristine grading, originally dressed by Miss Lacroix still fetch the highest prices at Antique Dolls Auction sale. Story by Pasky ( Thanks to François THEIMER) Email the author at paskytoy@orange.fr
Photographs: courtesy of THERIAULT auction house
Albert Marque 55 cm high doll originally dressed by the famous Parisian « Haute couture » workshop Margaine– Lacroix, located in the « Grand Boulevard » in Paris, who won the Grand Prix at the world fair in 1900
Albert Marque THE BOOK Author: FrançoisTheimer
Page count 120 English/French edition available at
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