Wax teddy bears, while not as prevalent as their plush counterparts, represent a fascinating intersection of historical craft, artistic expression, and cultural symbolism. The use of wax in creating figures and models dates back to ancient civilizations, and its application to teddy bears, a beloved toy with its own rich history, offers a unique perspective on both the medium and the subject.
A wax sculpture is a depiction made using a waxy substance. The properties of beeswax make it an excellent medium for preparing figures and models, either by modelling or by casting in moulds. It can easily be cut and shaped at room temperature, melts at a low temperature, mixes with any colouring matter, takes surface tints well, and its texture and consistency may be modified by the addition of earthy matters and oils or fats. Figures in wax of their deities were used in the funeral rites of the ancient Egyptians, and deposited among other offerings in their graves; many of these are now preserved in museums. That the Egyptians also modelled fruits can be learned from numerous allusions in early literature.
The practice of wax modeling boasts a lineage stretching back to antiquity. Figures in wax of their deities were used in the funeral rites of the ancient Egyptians, and deposited among other offerings in their graves. Among the Greeks, wax figures served as children's dolls and votive offerings. Wax figures and models held a still more important place among the ancient Romans. The masks (effigies or imagines) of ancestors, modelled in wax, were preserved by patrician families, this jus imaginum being one of the privileges of the nobles, and these masks were exposed to view on ceremonial occasions, and carried in their funeral processions. Through the Middle Ages, votive offerings of wax figures were made to churches. During this period, superstition found expression in the formation of wax images of hated persons, into which long pins were thrust, in the confident expectation that thereby deadly injury would be induced to the person represented. This practice was considered more effective when some portion of the victim's hair or nails were added to the wax figure, thus strengthening the connection with its actual subject. This belief and practice continued until the 17th century, though the superstition survived into the 19th century. During the Italian Renaissance, modeling in wax took a position of high importance, and it was practised by some of the greatest of the early masters, both as a material to create models for sculpture in other materials and as a medium to be used on its own.
The display of temporary or permanent effigies in wax and other media of the deceased was a common part of the funeral ceremonies of important people in European historical times. Most of the figures wore the real clothes of the deceased so they could be made quickly. The museum of Westminster Abbey has a collection of British royal wax effigies, as well as those of figures such as the naval hero Horatio Nelson, and Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, who also had her parrot stuffed and displayed. Nelson's effigy was a pure tourist attraction, commissioned the year after his death in 1805, and his burial in St Paul's Cathedral after a government decision that major public figures should in future be buried there. Wax effigies were a form of three-dimensional portraiture able to render uncanny likenesses of the subjects depicted. The Victoria and Albert Museum has a wax 'Descent from the Cross'[9] by Jacopo Sansovino which was probably used by painters Perugino and del Sarto as well as a small study of a slave by Michelangelo[10] and several wax pieces by Giambologna. modello.[11] The Royal Collection's red chalk écorché attributed to Michelangelo is considered as a drawing of a wax model like those Michelangelo himself made. Two wax modelli by Baccio Bandinelli still exist, one of 'Hercules and Cacus' (Bode Museum, Berlin, Ident. Nr. The Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence has the only surviving wax modello by Benvenuto Cellini, 'Perseo con la testa di Medusa' (inv.
Bologna was an important centre for anatomical wax modelling in the 18th century with Ercole Lelli, Giovanni Manzolini and his wife Anna Morandi Manzolini. The Museo di Palazzo Poggi shows a wax portrait of her husband dissecting a heart and one of herself dissecting a brain as well as anatomical models of the eye. The anatomy room also displays a series of figures by Ercole Lelli and a copy of Florentine Clemente Susini’s once famous Medici Venus. Wax profile bust of Benjamin Franklin by Patience Wright, c. The Royal Collection Trust owns a wax bust of George III by Samuel Percy (1750-1820) and several engravings made after wax portraits like Jean-Charles François's portrait of Josephus II (1751) after wax modeller Florian Zeiss (1712-80). Towards the close of the 18th century, modeling of medallion portraits and of relief groups, the latter frequently polychromatic, was in considerable vogue throughout Europe. Many of the artists were women. This was a time when artists were often inspired by phrenologists or physiognomonists. This was the case of Jean-Pierre Dantan, or David d'Angers, for example, the latter even belonged to the Société phrénologique de Paris founded by François Broussais in 1831. In the 19th century, a painter like Ernest Meissonier still used wax models to prepare his paintings, like 'Le voyageur' (Musée d'Orsay, RF 3672) while Rodin made a wax model of The Gates of Hell (1880). Among the major wax works of the period are Paul Gauguin's portrait of his daughter Aline (1881, musée d'Orsay), and a 125 cm high self-portrait of Jean-Joseph Carriès (Petit Palais). Edgar Degas used to model in wax to study the poses of his dancers and bathers. These were simple studies that he did not want to keep, but some were nevertheless cast in bronze after his death, such as 'Danseuse regardant la plante de son pied droit', in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris (RF 2771: wax; RF 2096: bronze).
In the fall of 1902, Teddy Roosevelt accepted a hunting invitation from Mississippi governor, Andrew Longino. Their guide was a man named Holt Collier, who knew the land well. Collier was determined to help an eager Roosevelt find a black bear. Then, a couple in Brooklyn, N.Y., Rose and Morris Michtom, saw the cartoon. They owned a penny candy shop and decided, for fun, that they would make a stuffed plush bear and display it in the window to honor the President. Roosevelt’s children were some of the first to play with the Teddy Bear. Although not confirmed, It is said that as a gift the Michtom’s gave the above bear to Kermit Roosevelt, who was thirteen at the time.
Beeswax was the start of it all and one of the first materials to create dolls. Later on, special and secret recipes were created to keep the wax preserved and non-darkening, as well as, tints added to give the wax a more flesh like color.
Dollmakers from France, Germany, Italy and primarily England. The markings on the wax are mostly gone and the paper tags lost.
Ancient to 1800’s - Poured Wax Dolls (Thick Wax or Solid Wax) are made by pouring molten wax into a heated plaster mold.
1800’s to 1900’s - Wax Over Dolls were made by dipping papier mache heads in clear or tinted wax. They have molded hair or wigged, solid limbs and indistinct ears, dark pupil-less eyes, generally made from 1800 to 1900. The bodies varied such as cloth, wooden, leather, composition, Motschmann floating-joint and wax over arms attached to a cloth body.
1860 to 1890 - Reinforced Wax Dolls are later dolls and a combination of the earlier types. A wax head was poured and the inside was reinforced with either plaster or cloth strips soaked in composition.
Madame Marie Taussaud (1761-1851) was well known for her lifelike wax models of famous persons. In 1777, she created her first wax figure, that of Voltaire. She remained on good terms with the French royal family until the Revolution. After a too close call of herself almost being executed, she was employed to make wax death masks of the victims including Louis XVI, Marie Antoinette and Robespierre. Eventually she moved to London, presented her collection and set up her first permanent display in 1835. Upon Marie Tussaud’s retirement, her son François became chief artist for the Exhibition. He was succeeded in turn by his son Joseph, who was succeeded by his son John.
Madame Augusta Montanari (1818-1864) may be the best known wax doll-maker of all time. Montanari’s dolls were beautiful. Each strand of human hair on the doll’s head was set directly into the wax with a hot needle and then an iron roller was used to gently but firmly roll over the head. This secured the strands of hair so well that the doll’s hair could be combed without causing any damage or loss. Many also credit Montanari with creating the first character dolls as each doll was dressed for age and occasion, like an actual person. Eventually, Montanari would create wax dolls for royalty and other wealthy persons, including wax dolls representing some of Queen Victoria’s children.
The Pierotti dynasty began with Domenico in the 1790’s who learnt mold making and wax casting from his English wife’s family. Their son Henry perfected the poured wax method.
Lewis Sorenson (1910-1985) specialized in magnificent historical life size wax figures of famous people such as Hollywood movie stars, literary characters, royalty and also his magnificent Santa Claus’s. He was one of the last of a dying breed of master dollmakers.
Wax-works, not intended as fine art, subsequently became popular attractions, consisting principally of images of historical or notorious personages, made up of waxen masks on lay figures in which sometimes mechanism is fitted to give motion to the figure.
Waxworks are frequently made presented by contemporary artists who take advantage of its lifelike and uncanny qualities. While the artist often creates a wax self-portrait, there are examples too of imaginary personalities and historical personae. For example, Gavin Turk had his portrait made as Sid Vicious ("Pop", Waxwork in vitrine 279 x 115 x 115 cm, 1993), Jan Fabre as a notorious thief (homage to Jacques Mesrine (Bust) II, 2008. Lifesize. Private collection.ta.) Eleanor Crook’s bronze sculpture Santa Medicina in London’s Science Museum has a wax “patient” modelled at half life size sheltered in a vitrine within its robes.
The modeling of the soft parts of dissections, teaching illustrations of anatomy, was first practised at Florence during the Renaissance.[1] The practice of moulage, or the depiction of human anatomy and different diseases taken from directly casting from the body using (in the early period) gelatine moulds, later alginate or silicone moulds, used wax as its primary material (later to be replaced by latex and rubber). Some moulages were directly cast from the bodies of diseased subjects, others from healthy subjects to which disease features (blisters, sores, growths, rashes) were skilfully applied with wax and pigments. During the 19th century, moulage evolved into three-dimensional, realistic representations of diseased parts of the human body.
It’s not often that the origin of a child’s toy - something as cute as a teddy bear - has its roots in the grim reality of a world war, as well as an inspiring revolution for women’s emancipation. That is exactly why, the story of how the Ealontoys Bow Bear stuffed toy came to be is quite unique. The history of Ealontoys starts in 1914, originating in the Votes for Women movement, the First World War and socialist politics. For a cute teddy bear, that’s quite an impressive legacy connection! The East London Toy Factory was set up in October 1914 at “45 Norman Road” (now Grove) to provide work for women when the First World War began. It was started by Sylvia Pankhurst (daughter of Emmeline Pankhurst and sister to Christabel Pankhurst), the founder of the East London Federation of the Suffragettes (ELFS), with the aim to provide well-paid jobs for women by manufacturing goods that were unavailable, hard to get hold of, or needed to be imported at the time. Many popular toys such as teddy bears were manufactured in Germany, but due to the war, shipments had stopped.
The factory initially produced wooden toys, using wood donated by George Lansbury - Sylvia’s friend, a strong suffragette supporter and a politician, who had resigned from his seat to fight elections based on the issue of women’s suffrage! An ELFS leaflet in London Museum’s collection lists “rag dolls, china-headed and wax-headed ones of original and artistic designs, at various prices; also dolls’ clothes, dolls’ furniture and flat wooden toys” among the items for sale. While Sylvia encouraged the women to use their own imagination for designs, there were also suggestions from her women artist friends. Sculptors were also appointed to create the doll moulds and painters to create visually exciting designs. The first batch of toys was sold at Selfridges department store, which supported the suffragette campaign. It’s said that Sylvia herself took a taxi full of toys to Selfridges, and convinced the owner Gordon Selfridge to stock them.
In order to offer women a fair wage, the factory paid higher rates than other local manufacturers. That was £1 a week - the average man’s minimum wage. At the time, wages ranged from 3 to 15 shillings per week. This meant that at least initially, the factory was not a huge commercial success. However, there was a lot of support for the initiative and the factory remained in business at Norman Road until 1934. After which, it relocated to King’s Cross.
Soon after the toy factory was started, Sylvia also opened a nursery in Norman Road as a crèche for the working mothers. A whole day’s fee was 3d, including food. The crèche soon filled up, and they had to search for a bigger space. In 1914, they opened a large premises at “438, Old Ford Road”, in a disused pub The Gunmaker’s Arms and renamed it the Mother’s Arms.
During the First World War, the ELFS started a number of initiatives to support the women in East End London. This included a garment factory, a boot factory, clothing stalls selling old and new clothes. Highlighting the difficulties of food poverty, the ELFS took a deputation to show ministers evidence of reduced family budgets. Sylvia’s persistence resulted in a milk distribution centre for babies, with free medical clinic. This was long before the National Health Service was launched in 1948. Sylvia had originally been an active member of the WSPU, but unlike Emmeline and Christabel, she felt the Suffrage movement should encourage greater participation from working-class women. This came from her extensive work in East End. Later, when the World War started, Emmeline and Christabel encouraged Suffragettes to support the war effort, while Sylvia - a pacifist - was against England joining the war. Sylvia and the ELFS, of course, could not stay unaffected by the war, and these initiatives - ranging from the toy and garment factories to the nursery and cost-price restaurants across several locations in east London (Poplar, Bow, etc.) - proved to be important centres to make sure the women, children and poor families in the surrounding areas were taken care of. As East End novelist and suffrage supporter Israel Zangwill is famously quoted: “…the hope of the world lies in changing the Gunmaker’s Arms into the Mother’s Arms. I trust out Sylvia’s action will be symbolic of the whole future course of history; for we will not pretend here that we are saving these babies merely that they may grow up to be food for cannon.” The Bow Bear toy is just one of the few remaining physical reminders of the extraordinary work done by the members of the ELFS for not only women’s suffrage but also society.
tags: #wax #teddy #bears #uses #and #history
