Deborah Neff, an American lawyer from the east coast, created the biggest collection of handmade black dolls in 25 years.
Her collection represents about 200 dolls which are all handmade made in one century, between 1840 and 1940, by mostly afro American anonymous women for their children or the children they were taking care about.
Originally they were not considered as art but as domestic artefacts – they would have been forgotten if Neff hadn’t fallen in love with them.
This collection not only reveals dolls made of fabric, wood or leather whose beauty and diversity are extraordinary, but also tells a cultural history, unprecedented political and intimate of Black Americans, of the maternity and childhood. Besides the dolls about 80 photographs are shown of children posing with their dolls at the same period.
LetKiss is totally seduced by this exhibition which is shown for the first time outside the US! Don’t miss it!
Black Dolls – The collection Deborah Neff from February 23rd to May 20th, 2018
La maison rouge
10 boulevard de la bastille
75012 Paris
phone +33 (0)1 40 01 08 81
fax +33 (0)1 40 01 08 83
Contact : info@lamaisonrouge.org
_Sara Ghazi-Tabatabai