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"Art, Like Cookies for the Soul" |
Welcome to a Street Circus!
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Only for happiness, repainted dolls . . . a new kind of "canvas"
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Where to find Nancy Lee's dolls . . . 402.274.3040 phone or nancylee@nancyleemoran.com
A Street Circus in France ~ Un cirque !
Photographs are copyrighted by Martine of France, shared here with Martine's kind permission.
~ Story written by Nancy Lee Moran of USA in May 2009
All graphic design and website coding created by Nancy Lee Moran
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Petite Beth sees a wonderful street circus . . .
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Her eyes glow as she holds her sister's hand.
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The Marvelous Fabulous Fantabulous Dolly Circus
Ringmaster Extraordinaire: Martine!
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A magic hoop is twirling between three graceful dancers.
Oh, look ~ a puppy dog! Pinocchio dances to the rich notes of a cello. |
The house guardian: a real dog!
A dignified giant Schnauzer named Meleck strolled through the room to protect us and then moved on to supervise the rest of the house. He was grand, like a king, which is what his name meant in Hebrew.
Later on, a new giant Schnauzer pranced throughout the rooms. (Age three months, he was a pup, but a giant one!) The gracious lady of the manor house named him Dia Ioko.
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October 2008
One week later, Beth returns to the circus with her two cousins.
"Hurry," says Beth.
She reaches her hand to a new circus friend, one just her own size.
The new circus friend, Thumbelina, is a doll created by Helen Kish for the 2006 UFDC convention. She came with a book illustrated by Katherine Adkins, a resin baby on a lily pad and a resin prince.
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Everyone is welcome here!
Raven (Kish) & Alice (Tonner) dolls arrive in France!
Both dolls were repainted (painted) by Nancy Lee Moran.
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Wonder! Joy!
Delight!
Five of the dresses in this scene were made by Marsha of Hankie Couture.
The doll with the upswept hair wears a red toile dress by Cecilia of Canada, eBay name chiditta.
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A celebration of color
and grace
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We amuse. We entertain.
We love your applause.
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Come back soon!
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About the Dapple Gray circus pony, created by a famous American company at the turn of the century:
Schoenhut Company (in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) was regarded as a great American toymaker.
In 1872 Schoenhut firm was established by a German (immigrant to America) whose family had been woodworkers for many generations. In 1903 the firm became famous for its Humpty Dumpty Circus, in which this pony was a performer. Of painted wood, it had jointed, movable neck and legs. Now about a hundred years old, it still has its original circus saddle, leather ears, and black rope tail. What a charming addition to Martine's street circus!
Nancy's other notes about Schoenhut:
After the circus, the firm began to make wood dolls with steel spring-jointed arms and legs. The dolls had natural, life-like, child-character faces - similar to the natural faces I like so well on the Kish dolls.
I have studied about Schoenhut in two older issues of Doll Reader magazine (October 2007 page 24 and February 1993 pages 51-57), and also in the book The World's Most Beautiful Dolls (written by the Editors of Dolls magazine, Portfolio Press 1994 & 1999, page 10).
~ Historical research by Nancy Lee Moran in December 2008 |
Schoenhut Toys
Click photo to enlarge it.
The cheerful clown was also a Schoenhut creation, one that retained his original paint and clothing. One of his feet was marked: Humpty Dumpty Circus. ~ The clown information was kindly provided to Nancy Lee in May 2009 by Tammy of Tammy Lamb Antiques (eBay name: tlambantiques), who discovered the clown at an estate sale in Oregon. Then off Mr. Clown flew to France, to join his original friend the pony. No wonder the two look so delightful together!
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Then winter blew in . . . and lingered.
Snowflakes fell outside the windows near the table, a place where all the dollies enjoyed friendship and warmth. They were together in the happy country house. Far away, in America, another Kish girl was preparing to go to France. She knew only that she had been adopted by a beautiful, kind woman there. She carried a little pillow made by her artist friend Nancy. It had a heart like her own loving heart.
She felt nervous and shy upon her arrival. What would happen? |
Cora Belle (Riley)
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Beth hurried over to Cora, knowing a hug may help.
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"Look," said gentle Raven Kish,
"Someone likes your pillow."
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Curious, Cora drew close to her new big sister.
Raven's dark curls felt soft to Cora's fingers.
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The hug from Beth and the darling bunny rabbit lifted up Cora's mood. Bedtime soon arrived. After a good sleep and a French breakfast, Cora felt confident enough to join in the fun.
"Look at me," she called to her new mother Martine. "Look at me!"
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About these dolls and Story Notes . . .
The three dancing dolls are Seasons (16" vinyl dolls by Kish and Company in 2003).
The dancers, like most of the dolls in the photos, are wearing custom clothing by designer Hankie Couture.
I hope you visit Marsha's fun website to see her fabric artistry.
Here is link to Hankie Couture at www.hankiecouture.com
Four dolls were repainted & recreated by Nancy Lee Moran:
My patron from France wrote to me:
I think HELEN KISH dolls are very interesting, like actresses, and they are most marvelous when they are repainted by you. Little Beth (Riley) is always in movement and animates the (doll street) circus.
Beth (7.5" Kish Riley) is wearing the ivory dress with seed-pearl-beads. Cora Belle (Riley) wears a dress made from a vintage handkerchief with rose-pink embroidery.
There are two Kish Raven "sisters." The one with blue eyes in the ivory-pearls dress is the one that Nancy repainted.
Alice in Wonderland is a ten-inch doll by Robert Tonner, also repainted by Nancy.
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Author Nancy's Notes:
French was the beautiful language I studied in high school and my first year of college. I appreciated ballet, with all its French words. My childhood was spent near St. Louis, Missouri, where immigrants from France had settled in American pioneer times. If you ever visit St. Louis, you will see many French names there on landmarks and street names.
France is the home of my favorite doll artist: Heloise.
A Question . . .
How did this story come to be? Since Martine lives in France, are you also from France? ~ C, May 2009
Martine had put four of my repainted dolls into her dolly circus (two Rileys, one Kish Raven, and Tonner Alice). We had been corresponding often, with me practicing French and her practicing English (much better than my French). Every couple months Martine sent a few photos of her evolving dolly circus. Her photos made me so happy that I finally asked Martine for permission to create a story on my website, so more people would have the pleasure of seeing her circus. I wrote the story and created the website graphic designing for it, while the photos came by email from France. I cropped and refined the photos on my computer.
I live in the heartland of the USA. I wrote the story using details from Martine's letters and by doing some research on the older toys (horse and clown). When Martine first purchased the Schoenhut pony last autumn, she told me about it. I already knew about Schoenhut Toys from various articles in Doll Reader magazine, so I wrote to Martine to give her more the history of the fine American company, which also made beautiful wood dolls in the early 1900s. ~ Nancy
Nancy Lee Moran's POLICY TO SHOW RESPECT FOR HELEN KISH & other doll creators is as follows:
The dolls I use were factory painted. I would never repaint a doll that the artist (Helen Kish) had painted herself, such as some of those in the Kish Signature Line. I would not paint one in a limited edition of fewer than 300 (preferably 500 or more). I consult the beautiful book I own:
Helen Kish: The Artist and Her Dolls by Louise Fecher (hardcover published in 2006). I am NOT affiliated with any doll company, creator or manufacturer.
Please send your questions and requests to Nancy at nancylee@nancyleemoran.com
or by phone: 402-274-3040 Central Time
All rights reserved. All art and photos on the site are protected by copyright © law.
Each may only be reproduced with written permission of the artist. Site page design copyrighted © by Nancy Lee Moran.
Thank you for visiting Nancy Lee Moran's website!
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