Halloween

More Weldon's Children's Fancy Dress

 "The Glad Eye" costume is the stuff of nightmares. The "tomato" was actually in style as the pouf dress in the 1980s.

The two offensive costumes I referenced earlier: Golliwog and the Klansman. The Klan was an American thing, but I guess it's appeal reached Great Britain. Sad. I know some people believe the Golliwog is a benign character, but I just don't see it that way.

 Here we see an outfit based on "The Kid," the Charlie Chaplin film of 1921 featuring Jackie Coogan as the Kid.

Very sweet kitten and rabbit outfits, but the birds are quite strange.

For Fancy Dress Frolics, c. 1920s

More from Weldon's catalog. These are the only color plates. More sepia pages tomorrow.

Weldon's Children's Fancy Dress, c. 1920s

I found this catalog on Sharon Yarter's table at the convention. Some of the costumes are wonderfully creative, a few are outlandish, and two are downright offensive. Costume dress up tells us so much about a time and place. Today and tomorrow, some pages from the catalog. Click on images for detail.

A mail box or "pillar box" costume and the merry- go- round outfit are delightfully eccentric.

I love the idea of dressing up as a window. Some of the flower-type costumes were a popular theme in antique paper dolls.

The spider dress and hat has an appropriately creepy effect. The champagne bottle with the cork hat is oddball. The Christmas cracker dress is cute. You can see some costumes were inspired by popular plays and literature, too.

Halloween place card, c. 1920s

It's hard to believe we're having yet another Halloween storm. Enough to make you want to mount a broom and take off. Stay safe.

Vintage place card by Buzza, c. 1920s. Likely had a companion bridge tally.

Erte inspired paper doll

The Golden Age of Hollywood by Gregg Nystrom

Congratulations to Gregg Nystrom on his first Dover book! This is a sneak peek of the cover; the book will be out in February. Love that this book of paper dolls comes with glitter. Gregg's likenesses of the stars are absolutely remarkable. Bravo, Gregg!

Halloween outfit, McLoughlin, c. 1920s

McLoughlin, from Set B, c. 1920s.

Tillie the Toiler, 1937

Des Moines Tribune, Aug. 15, 1937. A very pretty Tillie. I believe Russ Westover is the artist.

Claudine Hellmuth paper doll kit

The artist Claudine Hellmuth is selling a paper doll printable kit at her Etsy shop. It's as simple as can be: for $4.99 you get a nine-page hi-res PDF file delivered via email that you can download immediately. You can use the dolls as shown, or customize them with your own photos. Very cool idea!

The American Folk Art Museum

This is "Dressed Picture of Two Women, Urn of Flowers, and Starry Sky," c. 1890-1920, artist unidentified. Collage on cardboard, with metal foils, metal mesh and paint.

This was included in the exhibit "Foiled: Tinsel Painting in America," on view through January 13, 2013, along with another exhibit "Ooh, Shiny!" If you like all that glitters, this is one to see. Click to enlarge pictures and to read text from the exhibit.

Below, some samples of foil painting and reverse painting on glass.

That's a lithograph of Jenny Lind in the center foil painting.

Button Tree, 1990-1992 by Gregory "Mr. Imagination" Warmack (1948-2012). Wood and cement with buttons, bottle caps and nails.

You can see more from this exhibit, and learn more about these works of art, on the museum's web site.

Kis-Me Gum paper doll, c. 1880s

Mother Goose series; Peter the Pumpkin-Eater. Kis-Me also produced puzzle pieces to glue together to form a picture. The Filson Historical Society has more information about this Kentucky-based company. And two delightful pictures of the "playsets"or puzzles that children put together:

Building Stories by Chris Ware

The new Chris Ware book is on my list. It's a novel with moving parts, so to speak: a box of books, pamphlets and posters that tell the story of the inhabitants of a building. I don't want to read too much about this so I can have the joy of discovery myself. The whole thing looks fantastic.  Below, literally, the table of contents as posted on Amazon:

The Adam Baumgold gallery in Manhattan also has an exhibit of original drawings for the book. And, most incredibly, a limited edition of the building to construct yourself. It looks like sturdy card stock.