The Birmingham age-herald., 1916-06-25
PARIS IS IN MIDST OF RAG DOLL CRAZE Artists Go to Work on Crea-
 tiOns Unique A, BLOW TO GERMANY Fashionable to Make Collections. Some Are Very Artistic
 and Are of Great
 Value
A, BLOW TO GERMANY

Paris, June 1-(Special Correspond \ ence. .)-Months before the war was upon us certain Paris journals had weekly editorials protesting against the import \ tation of articles made in Germany" \ Germany had a monopoly of the doll and toy trade in France and it was \ against this neglected home industry that | warning paragraphs constantly appeared | It was the same old cry of wolf | wolf." Merchants were indifferent, manu- lecturers took no heed. Barely two
 months after war was in action the same journals took up the doll and toy sub ject. What was to be done about toys for the children's Christmas was the | question asked.
 It was the stranded or supply-cut-off ! artists who first stepped in to fill the ! breach. Several motives prompted them to provide Christmas toys, to give work to the artists and by sales to raise money for war relief work. Caught in l the war trap were about 150 Polish art ists who could not get back to their own country, nor could they receive their usual remittance, all communication be- ing cut off. Desperate indeed was their state.
 Madame Lazarski, young Polish
 painter, has a modest studio in the Latin ! quarter. During those anxious days of | August, 1914 her studio became the | rendezvous of her country people, many of them artists and writers where so | ctous discussion were freely indulged \ in .s to the best way of providing work | for Il Polish artists left in a state of | destt ution.
 Mile. Marie Mickiewicz, granddaughter | of the great Polish poet, whom the Poles call "our Shakespeare" and Madame | Lazarskt concluded that the call for dolls
 and toys opened way for remunera- tive employment for the artists without | money.
 How to make a rag doll? Madame | Lazarski had no material nor a pattern
 fer body. The difficulty of material ! was easily overcome, for in her trous-
 seau (she was then a bride) was a white
 robe de chambre. Slash went the scis- ' sors, but out of the ample breadths of
 the robe only one doll emerged It was,
 however a success and this served as a pattern for future doll progeny, and
 thus the industary was founded.
 X French abbe having learned that a group of needy Polish artists were to
 start doll making in Madame Lazarski' S studio, made a tour of the big shops and | in response to his demands soon large | bundles of samples and remnants of every description were delivered at her door. 1 Thus was formed the stock in trade,
 and the first artist doll shop was launched in the entrenched camp-Paris.
 So rapid was its growth that more space was required. An apartment studio be- | low was taken. Today the "Ateliers Art = istiques'' give proof of being well or = ganized, successful undertaking. Half of a room at the Louvre exposition is re- 70 served for dolls and toys from the Ate D. Hers Artistiques. The excellence of the le display suggested a visit to the shop. ' st The kitchen was transformed into the i- toy shop. Wooden soldiers, birds and lel annals were lying helter skelter on top It of the sink, on the unlighted stove or J. oil chairs. Adjoining the kitchen was i- the wcrkroom for cloth cutting for the ,e bodies and costumes. Tiny patterns were ,s pinned to the walls in lieu of the habit ,e ual artist sketches. You must see the Id hospital" Mme. Lazarski told us, and IF opening the bathroom door there was the f. pore elain tub, mound high with disjointed IF members of the doll specie. It was in. Ky deed burlesque operating room witt c arms and legs sticking out at every an o3fI gle In one room, where there are book ,, like shelves from floor to ceiling, were "a the layers of finished dolls ready for ex ~ ~ portation to America, South America ant Spain.
 III our WALK OI inspection MaQame Lag
 arsld gave these interesting details:
 When we began the doll making in
 dustry in my little studio there were 2t a artists engaged in the work. A few a months before the holidays of this veal 'l there were 150 working on the rag dol
 and wooden toys
 s We have now 40 different models tha U have been designed by our artists who
 have special talent in that line whicf - are used as copies by the artists les.
 skilled in portraiture originality, but who can cleverly copy the dolls from them. "The artists who design simply re ceve royalty on the number of doll sold from their design. Those who make l the dolls are paid by the piece. For example, Mile Frszerowna, wh' II made the drawings for the popular Jai II and Halka, received $500 on these two II dolls alone. What are the salaries paid II From 20 francs (sD to 60 france (s12) week.
 II You look incredulous when I say 2 francs is livable salary. Let me tel II lyou why it is. One does not have tt II Ipay rent till war is over Canteens ar, Il l established for artists where good nour II ishing meal can be had for 10 sous. TheI II there the special vestiares where art ists can be fitted out with clothing. That why l state that with frugality one car N live on 20 francs a week."
 H Madame Lazarski further added tha II Mile Olga Boznanska, the celebrate, N Polish portrait painter, bought the frs Al doll She has made a painting of it. Judging from the letter received b, Madame Lazarski from the secretary o M Queen Elizabeth of Belgium the Christ I mas gift of Jan and Halka to the littl M Princess Marie Jose was a real source o M pleasure She found the Polish doll l highly artistic"
 l Now we come to the individual work o MI the artists in rag doll making. M Miss Duvall of Los Angeles an artis M wno has exhibited her paintings man. M times in America, realizing the absolut M stagnation in art turned her talent to tn M rag doll craze. The makeshift rag doll M of our grandmothers are as primitive a " cavemen in comparison to her aestheti N creations. She speaks of modelling N doll in the same sense as a sculpto N speaks of statue. What the laymal M calls stuffing, Miss Duvall calls model M ing. Moreover, she insists that each lit M tie cloth body shall be in perfect pro MI portion. Miss Duvall has had four of he MI dolls accepted for r ouyre exhibition WI Alice in Wonderful and Sir Thomas Lau MI renee are perhaps the most admired. XII Miss Elizabeth Nourse is another Amer M ican who has taken up the work. Mis- M Nourse came to Paris, where she ha m lived for many years, from Cincinnati M Her people are of Salem and one, of he N ancestors was burned as witch in tha M historic Massachusetts town Her paint uD ings of Breton peasants are we'll known M cIx< hos hnor