Women’s Club to exhibit, sell rare dolls

A large doll collection donated to the Women’s Club of Glen Ridge will be displayed at the club this Saturday, April 5, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Billed as “Dreamscapes — an exhibition and sale of rare art dolls and mixed media pieces,” approximately 300 of the 350 dolls donated will be made available.

The effort to find new homes for these figures is led by the club vice-president, Trish Turiano. She spoke this week, at the clubhouse, to The Glen Ridge Paper, about the 30 dozen-doll windfall.

She said they were given to the club by their owner, Dr. Roberta Rubin, a pathologist and club member who lived on Woodland Road, a stone’s throw from the club. Rubin, a long-time borough resident, was moving away. People who had visited her home and saw the collection spread the word about it and her home became known as “the doll house.”

“She was not someone you would think would be collecting dolls,” Turiano said. “But she had these dolls everywhere in her house.”

Turiano theorized why this woman would have 350 dolls, but realized she would never know.

“And she let them go,” Turiano continued. “She didn’t seem sentimental about them, but maybe she was. Even when the club sells one of the dolls, it makes me a little sad to send them off.”

Turiano established a Facebook page for the dolls and posted on art doll sites, so their whereabouts were known by American and European collectors and requests arrived.

“The annual art doll convention is being held in Milan this year,” Turiano said. “One of the doll makers we have in the collection will be the keynote speaker.

He’s Mark Dennis, from Pennsylvania, and I bought an advertisement on the back page of Art Doll Magazine and it was translated into Italian.”

Learning about the donation was one thing, but moving it was another matter. Complicating the transition was that both Rubin and the club are serious record keepers. Information about the individual dolls had been recorded by Rubin, who also was in communication with dollmakers and had letters from them. So, besides the doll, there was a considerable amount of information the club wanted to preserve.

“As you can imagine,” Turiano said, “we went to Roberta’s house; we called ourselves ‘the doll squad,’ and we were astonished. All over her very big home were dolls. We said yes to taking them.”

Rubin’s information about the dolls was for her own catalogue with the name of the artist, the year the doll was created and if it was one-of-a-kind.

“Roberta knew all the dolls,” Trurian continued. “She had an amazing memory. She knew all the names of the artists and had the paperwork — letters from the artists and letters to them. So, we created a file and I’m glad we took the time. Now that we have them, it’s very important to know what we have. Some are worth a lot of money, but it’s important to know what we have.” Operation Doll Move began April 2021 and was completed by August. The dolls were driven the few blocks to the club or hand-carried.

“We did it very carefully, I can tell you that,” Turiano said.

The upcoming exposition will be the second for the dolls. Their debut, according to Turiano, dazzled.

“One of the artists, Sylvia Weser, passed away right when we got the collection and several collectors snatched up some of her dolls, but we still have some. They’re one-of-a-kind.”

Weser created a Romeo and Juliet pairing which the club has. Many other artists also used classically inspired sources. But there were other influences, too, including Hollywood. There are dolls in the likeness of Audrey Hepburn, Vivian Leigh and Joan Crawford, to name a few. The Joan Crawford doll carries a tiny Screen Actors Guild card attached to its mink stole. The Vivian Leigh doll was created by Cree and Coe, a much sought-after British team.

About 35 artists will be represented at the sale. Turiano had contacted one of them, Laura Saaf, to ask what to do if a doll’s arms are sticking. Learning about the sale, Saaf plans to buy back her five dolls in the collection. She is coming in from Chicago.

Most of the dolls are made of porcelain, but some are wax or polymer clay.

“Some are mixed-media sculptures,” Turiano said. “My hope is that the community will come. If someone is not interested in dolls, they’ll see objects of art.”

The club will probably keep a few dolls to be showcased in appreciation of Rubin’s generosity, according to Turiano. A small fee is charged for the exhibition, but it will be returned with a purchase. Lemonade and sweets will be offered.

This is the centennial anniversary of the clubhouse dedication which, in recognition, the club will present a house and garden tour Sept. 6.

  Dolls, Glen Ridge, Women’s Club