Information
Exhibit
Sales
Restoration & Repair
Self-Help Sasha-Care
Knitting Patterns
Knitting Kits
Doll Sales

What are Sasha Dolls?
Books
Bibliography
Online Bulletin Boards
Newsletters
Festival
Links

Sasha Dolls Information

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Updated: May 5, 2010

DOLLS FOR SALE here

Current Exhibit:
SHERRY FOGGAN'S WHITE DRESSES
The amazing white dresses Sherry made for her beautiful studio Sasha dolls, modelled by the dolls she made them for.

Sasha Dolls Charts are available on the Sales Page

For Knitters

Visit the Kits and the Patterns pages, to find nifty items to knit for Sasha, Gregor and Baby.

Self-Help Care for Sasha Dolls offers how-to-do-it advice and tips on the care and preservation of your Sasha.

Photographs and text at this website are copyrighted.
© Susanna Lewis, 2009.

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REFERENCE ARCHIVE
A picture catalog of all the Sasha dolls from the 1990s Götz production (1995 - 2001) can be seen here. The dolls are grouped year by year, with their names and style numbers, in photos you can print.

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What are Sasha Dolls?    
   Sasha dolls were created by the late Sasha Morgenthaler (1893 - 1975), a Swiss artist and artisan. She was also a humanitarian and a keen observer of all the world's children. Her vision was to create dolls that represented and reflected the spirit of children of all races and cultures during their age of innocence.

   A protégé of Paul Klee and a contemporary of Karl Geiser, Sasha had formal schooling in painting and sculpture, married the painter Ernst Morgenthaler, and was active in European artistic and social movements. Beginning in the 1940s until her death in 1975, Sasha created one-of-a-kind 20" cloth, gypsum, and plastic dolls in her studio. She travelled the world extensively, studying children of all racial, cultural, and economic groups to portray in her dolls. These dolls are considered museum-quality works of art, created by an artist who turned to doll-making to portray her vision. During her lifetime, Sasha's dolls were sold from her studio and through the Heimatwerk shops in Switzerland. In the USA, Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago exhibited and sold her dolls.

   But the dolls Sasha created for children to play with, were too expensive for most families. Her dream was to make an inexpensive play doll that would have universal appeal for all children. Her dream came true in the mid 1960s when she developed the design for the 16" serie play-dolls, manufactured in Germany and England, that became so popular around the world during the 1960s - 1980s. These serie dolls possess some unique features: they have beautifully stylized body parts that are in quarter scale, asymmetrical, and in realistic proportion, like real humans. They are perfectly balanced and can assume many poses without a doll stand - they can even stand on their heads! Their skin colorings are blends of all skin colorings, to represent all the children of the world, and they have individually hand painted faces with receptive expressions, each one ready to reflect whatever mood its child will give it.

   There have been three productions of serie Sasha dolls, made by two different companies. Götz-Puppenfabrik GmbH of Rödental, Germany made Sasha dolls from 1965 - 1970, and again from 1995 - 2001. Frido/Trendon/Sasha Dolls Ltd of Stockport, England made Sasha dolls from 1966 - 1986. The dolls from the three productions have similar vinyl bodies and heads, with rooted nylon hair and painted eyes and lips, but differ in style and face painting. The German Sashas from both productions are marked on their backs and necks with the Sasha logo, while the English dolls are unmarked. All Sasha dolls wear wrist tags on their right wrists - a string with a little medallion bearing the Sasha logo. The early German Sashas are more plentiful in Europe than in America, while the reverse is true for the English dolls. Dolls from the most recent German production can be found everywhere.

   In the past, Sasha's one-of-a-kind studio original dolls from her own personal collection were housed at the Sasha Morgenthaler Puppenmuseum, in the Bärengasse Museum in Zurich, Switzerland. Now, the Sasha collection has been closed, and is being exhibited from time to time at different venues, until a new permanent location can be found for the collection. The book Sasha Puppen / Sasha Dolls by Stefan Biffiger (see just below) pictures the dolls that were housed at the Puppenmuseum, and also contains essays about her life and work.

Books    
At this time there are three professionally-published books about Sasha dolls. Click here for Books.

Bibliography
For those who want to find more pictures and information about Sasha dolls, a bibliography of articles published in American magazines is provided for your own research. Many of these magazines can be found for sale on eBay. Click here for the Bibliography.

Fraternal Twins: No two Sasha dolls are ever exactly alike. These two Brunette Ginghams from the English production, date from late 1968. They have side parted hair and thin wispy bangs.

Communicate with other Sasha-lovers!

Online Bulletin Boards
We have two online bulletin boards open to friendly and helpful people who love Sasha Dolls. Come and join us and talk about everything Sasha. We welcome beginner and experienced collectors alike!

The Sasha Doll Mailing List
Hosted by Maria Dulmage of the USA, this e-mailing list is the primary means of group communication for Sasha-lovers worldwide. Members range from new collectors to experts, all of whom are eager to discuss Sasha. "For Sale" posts for Sasha items are welcome. Subscription is free, but you must have an e-mail address. To join, click here subscribe and send a blank e-mail (text in Subject or Body isn't necessary). For help subscribing, email Maria here.

The Sasha Mart
Hosted by Carol Losee of the USA, this second Sasha bulletin board is primarily for buying and selling Sasha dolls and clothing for Sasha. To join, click here subscribe and send a blank e-mail (text in Subject or Body isn't necessary). For help subscribing, email Carol here.

Sasha Newsletter
We have one newsletter for people who love Sasha dolls:

Sasha Friends is published four times a year, by Chris Kading and Sharon Sams. $15.00/4 issues USA. $20.00/4 issues Canada and Foreign.
Subscription Address: Sharon Sams, 304 12th Ave NW, Altoona IA 50009.
For questions about subscriptions, email kading@att.net or sharon_sams_2000@yahoo.com.
     This newsletter is written, edited and published by Chris and Sharon especially for Sasha collectors. It is twelve pages with photos and includes news, articles of interest to collectors, details about local and national Sasha events, a sewing or knitting pattern, and advertisements for Sasha-related items.

Friends of Sasha, published by Dorisanne Osborne for 17 years, is our previous Sasha newsletter. She has some back issues available. If you would like to contact her about them, email crosnest@linkny.com.

The Sasha Festival
Every year Sashaphiles from here and abroad gather for a weekend of fun and comraderie. The gathering place is in a different location each year. The next Festival will be held in San Francisco, California, July 15 - 18, 2010. It is hosted by Jan Johnson. The theme is "Sasha Returns Home - Switzerland." If you live or plan to vacation in the area, do not miss this event! Information about the Festival can be viewed here, and hotel reservations can be booked online here.
     The planning for future Festivals is all ready underway:
      2011 - Springfield, Illinois.
      2012 - England.
      2013 - Harrison, Ohio.