In the Artist’s Own Words
Hildegard Gunzel describes her doll making.
“Everyone in life is spellbound by something at one time or another. The tiniest of things can work their magic. The perfect rose, the bee in the middle of a flower, a clear summer’s morning or a glittering field of virgin snow; all of these can also cast their spell. Personally, I can find the little items I use in my work equally enchanting. Magnificent material, the finest lace, an unusual little button or silk flower made with love can all inspire my imagination. Looking at these things, I cannot help but wonder about the doll they might suit. I turn them around in my mind, again and again and her personality begins to take shape.” ~Hildegard Gunzel
So says one of the world’s premier doll artists, Hildegard Gunzel, in a succinct quote which happens to reveal a great deal about her artistic philosophy and process. Read on for more about her life and her doll malking.
Biography
Early Life and Doll Art
Hildegard Gunzel was born in Tauberbischoffsheim, Germany and her youth was no more eventful than any other German child born after the end of World War II. Hildegard took her first sojourn into dolls as a writer for a German hobbies magazine. They gave her a new clay product (Cernit) and asked her to make something from it. She made small, simple dolls which only suggested her achievements yet to come but fulfilled her in their creation. Hildegard soon began teaching doll-making classes and continued making dolls for herself. The artist first exhibited her dolls at Ludwig Beck, one of the large department stores in Munich.
Doll Making Success and Artistic Recognition
In 1986, Hildegard Gunzel first attended The International Toy Fair in New York City, where she scored a tremendous success; her dolls sold out the very first day. Because her dolls achieved market acceptance, an established doll manufacturer commissioned her work. In 1989, the artist began designing dolls produced in porcelain for the Madame Alexander Doll Company, as well as creating her original wax-over-porcelain dolls.
Hildegard Gunzel’s Doll Making Technique
In order to create a very natural look to the skin of her dolls, an extremely thin layer of wax is applied to the surface of the fired porcelain doll. The eyes are made of two-tone, hand-blown glass. Hildegard’s dolls’ wigs are human hair, hand-knotted and dyed to the exact shade the artist desires for each doll.
Gunzel’s studio fashions the clothing of the finest fabrics: Valenciennes lace, gold-embroidered edging, doupion, silk and silk tafetta, cotton pique and cashmere. The hats are made to order by a milliner and the shoes are hand-crafted to the artist’s strict specifications.
Prized by Collectors
Doll collectors know well Hildegard Gunzel’s wax-over-porcelain dolls, exquisitely made in small editions. These expertly finished and impeccably costumed art dolls are considered by many to be the best work being produced in the wax-over-porcelain medium.