Lilli Baitz, Rare Dolls from the Collection of Rosalie Whyel

Stuart Holbrook president of Theriault’s Auction House joins The Doll Podcast host Louisa Maxwell to  discuss  rare dolls by Austrian artist Lilli Baitz from the collection of Rosalie Whyel.  Rosalie Whyel founded of the award winning Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art in Seattle Washington . Stuart tells the story of this major collection of Lilli Baitz dolls and how Rosalie Whyel preserved these dolls for future generations to enjoy.

Austrian artist Lilli Baitz trained in art schools in Florence, Munich and Vienna. She established her studio in Berlin with her husband Roman in 1909. Lilli Baitz created beautifully costumed and sculpted dolls and figures dressed in costumes depicting traditional Austrian dress. She also sculpted languid boudoir dolls and capturing the likeness of stage and screen stars like Mary Pickford, Ellen Terry and Lilly Langtree. 
 
 Lilli and Roman’s company  was renowned for their dolls and elaborate Christmas landscapes and magical fairy tale scenes. They soon attracted the attention of major department stores throughout Europe and the USA. They worked on projects for Metro Goldwyn-Mayer studios producing figures of stars such as Laurel and Hardy and Mary Pickford for film promotions in Europe.

Transcript

Lillie Baitz, Rare Dolls from the Collection of Rosalie Whyel

Louisa Maxwell: 0:04

Welcome to the Doll Podcast. I'm your host, Louisa Maxwell. Stuart Holbrook, president of Theriault's Auction House, joins me for the third in our series of podcasts discussing the collection of Rosalie Whyel and the award-winning museum she established the ‘Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art’ in Seattle, Washington. Sadly, we lost Rosalie this year and her friend Stuart Holbrook was entrusted to appraise and auction the collection of a lifetime. In these episodes, Stuart shares the stories of Rosalie and the dolls that became a landmark collection. 

Stuart, it is fitting that we are recording this podcast from my home in Vienna, Austria. As for this episode, we are going to be discussing the dolls of Lilli Baitz and how an important collection of her dolls found their way to Rosalie Whyel's Museum. 

Lilli Baitz was Born in Bad Aussee, Austria in 1874, trained in art schools in Florence, Munich and Vienna and established her studio in Berlin, Germany, with her husband, Roman, in 1909. Lilli Baitz created beautifully-costumed and sculpted dolls and figures dressed in costumes depicting  traditional Austrian dress. She also sculpted languid Boudoir dolls and captured the likeness of stage and screen stars such as Mary Pickford, Ellen Terry and Lilly Langtree. Lilli and Roman's company were renowned for their dolls, but also for their elaborate Christmas landscapes and magical fairy tale scenes. They soon attracted the attention of major department stores throughout Europe and the USA. They also worked on projects for Metro, Golden Mayor Studios, producing figures of stars such as Laurel and Hardy for film promotions in Europe. Stuart, you and I have met quite a few times to talk about the collection of Rosalie Weil, which just has such a range of dolls from across the globe. Stuart, tell us about the Lillie Bytes dolls in Rosalie Weil's collection.

Stuart Holbrook: 2:22

Over the years in my career I've of course come across Lillie Baitz dolls. Let me start off by telling people first of all, there's a lot of sort of misconceptions as to what a Baitz doll is because a lot of people see dolls that were made by the Baitz Company long after Lilli Baitz had passed away . They're more like travel dolls, souvenir dolls in ethnic outfits and they are not really what we're talking about here. That was sort of an evolution of the company long after she was gone. We're talking about what you mentioned, the early period of Lilli Baitz's work developing as an artist. And yes, I discovered her over the years but never really did what I call a deep dive. I always thought, oh, they're lovely, boudoir lady dolls. Working with Rosalie Whyel's collection allowed me a chance to do a deep, dive into something that I realized is one of the most amazing stories in the world of dolls. So I guess we backtrack and we start with how did Rosalie connect with Lilli Baitz dolls? Where did she acquired one of the greatest collections - probably the greatest collection of art dolls ever by Lillie Baitz ? Let me start by saying how Rosalie acquired the dolls before I tell more of the deep dive story behind how they were created. So, in the early 2000's, Rosalie received information that there was a collection of, I believe, 88 Lilli Baitz dolls that were custom made in unique costumes: one group featuring ladies of theatre and acting, one group featuring historic couples in historical costumes of different regions of the world, primarily Europe. The third, which was really fascinating, was children through history and what they would wear during that period.

Louisa Maxwell: 4:30

Wow.

Stuart Holbrook: 4:31

And so Rosalie came to receive a phone call that there was this entire collection of them and it was from the former curator of the Traphagen Museum. Ethel Traphagen was a legendary fashion designer in New York in the early to mid to late 1900s. She had actually developed one of the most famous fashion schools there, and called the Traphagen School of Fashion. The school had a museum, and the curator of that museum, when it closed down, was so in love with these dolls and thought they were such an incredible work of art in their entirety that she bought them. I've never heard of a curator buying the items from a museum, it's very unusual. She bought the whole collection because she was horrified to think of them not residing with her and being split apart. In this case, clearly, it was a pipe dream. It's not a reality. You can't keep together necessarily 88 pieces like this. When she was ready to sell them, some 18 years later, after having them in her home, she contacted Rosalie through another person to see if she would be interested in purchasing them as an entire collection for the museum. Rosalie immediately jumped on it, especially when she heard the story. So what was the story? Well, we'll talk a little bit about Lilli Baitz and her life as we go through. But as best as we can figure out, in the 1920s, Lilli Baitz had, come back to Austria from Berlin, and in that time she established a Werkstatt or studio in Salzburg. What we know is that during the mid to late 20s, up until 1932, Lilli had worked to create these dolls. She was actually sculpting the faces and then the costumes were her designs - made over probably six, seven, eight year period, which is when this is where it gets so fascinating. An American art dealer from New York named Hoffheimer, who I can find no information on anywhere in the world today, on the internet, which is incredible. How does a person just vanish from the internet? Nothing on him, his life, his history? He went to Salzburg and he was at the Werkstatt and he saw these dolls and he absolutely fell in love with them, so much so that he made an offer to buy the entire collection and he brought it to the United States. He didn't want it necessarily for himself. He believed that these were such works of art, so unique, he wanted to mount a traveling exhibit around America and he did just that. 

The dolls themselves have the essence of a lot of her boudoir dolls, that essence of the face. But what is remarkable about these  doll is that I can't imagine the amount of work she must have gone through with each one. The actresses as an example, the ladies of the theatre which you have, people like Sarah Bernhardt each one is done individually and looks exactly like the actress. And these were part of this collection and it wasn't Lilli was just taking her stock boudoir doll and dressing it in a costume of that actress . Each doll is uniquely sculpted to look like that person so every doll face is different. This is an incredible undertaking . In 1930 her husband Roman Baitz died ,he would have been fairly young. We know 1932 is when she produced the last doll in this collection, because one of the final is a pair of children and it says "the children of today", 1932. And that was the last sort of thing that we can document that was produced. Then this gentleman, Hoffheimer, from New York, who found these dolls in Salzburg soon after, bought the entire collection, had it brought to America, and toured the collection around. He had exhibits in Milwaukee, I believe, Chicago, Brooklyn ,and New York. 

It was after a few of these exhibits around the country that Ethel Traphagen, of the Traphagen School of Fashion saw them and offered to buy them She believed that they were an incredible addition to the fashion school for educational purposes, because the outfits were so remarkably done and showed evolution of fashion over a period of time. So, she bought the entire collection and there they remained in the Traphagen school for years where they were used as educational fashion models on exhibit for students. The students even did annual books of fashion where they would use these dolls to show different periods of costuming. They remained at the fashion school until it went bankrupt, which I believe was in the 1980s. The Baitz doll collection then went to this curator - eventually making their way to Rosalie and ‘The Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art’. Now they're coming up for auction at Theriault's and it is a remarkable thing to find a set like this. The dolls will be auctioned in two upcoming sales in 2024 dedicated to Rosalie Whyel's collection. Part One features the ladies of theatre and then in part two we will have the couples of history and the children. So this January (2024) people will be able to see the ladies of the theatre and their incredible work. 

In the introduction you brought up a lot about Lilli Baitz and now I guess that will lead us in the conversation of how I discovered the world of Lilli Baitz. I never really knew a whole lot about her before and there really isn't much, especially in the American market. There's very few articles written on her, not a lot about her life and who this lady was. So I became fascinated because I wondered , who would do this? Who would make these one of a kind dolls like this and put so much work into it? Who was this lady Lilli Baitz?. So I started reading about her and, like you, discovered probably the most remarkable Austrian artist that we will have in our history of dolls, not only just a doll maker, but somebody that you mentioned had been contracted by numerous department stores around the world, even Kaufman's in Pittsburgh. The Kaufman family was a famous, very wealthy family in Pittsburgh that actually had Frank Lloyd Wright build 'Falling Waters', the famous house, and they contracted Lilli Baitz to do designs for the department store as well. Though you and I both agree, we can't find any information documenting that she actually traveled to the United States.

Louisa Maxwell: There no mention of it but she may have.12:09

And there's so much more because we have to go into literally visit museum archives here in Austria.

Stuart Holbrook: 12:16

Yes.

Louisa Maxwell: 12:19

We should, as this is an incredible story. It's a story of an artist at a very interesting time, because if we think of the early 20th century, we have Käthe Kruse in Germany starting her doll company and Madame Alexander in New York.

Stuart Holbrook: 12:49

It's extraordinary the amount of wonderful dolls that were coming out and their originality. Women were disrupting the old boy network of doll making in call it 1902, really surging in to the 1920s. You saw it with Rose O’Neil, you saw Lilli Baitz and as you said with Madame Alexander. German companies suddenly started hiring American artists, who were primarily women, to create their new designs: Grace Storie Putnam, Grace Corey Rockwell, Helen Jensen, there's a number of them, all American women. .

Louisa Maxwell: 13:36

And if we go, to Italy in 1919, Elena Scavini establishes the Lenci Company.

Stuart Holbrook: 13:43

Lenci. Yes, This was in a period where also women in America gained the ability to vote.

Louisa Maxwell: 13:53

And in Europe too.

Stuart Holbrook: 13:55

We saw almost a liberation of women, to the point that they began to really take over doll making. They were a creative force in doll making.

Louisa Maxwell: 14:07

It's a worldwide movement in the arts that we see happening. There's a very interesting comparison between Käthe Kruse and Lilli Baitz and , and that is that when Lilli, as an artist, came to the attention of a - I think it was a wine company.

Stuart Holbrook: 14:28

Oh, I love this story.

Louisa Maxwell: 14:29

Yes, and they said 'oh, I really love your work', and they wanted her to make one of these scenes. 

Stuart Holbrook: 14:35

I think it was a centrepiece. Yeah, it was an Austrian theme to do with promoting his company.

Louisa Maxwell: 14:41

And she carved the dolls. I wish we could see a picture of this. She carved the dolls out of potatoes, their heads. This is, of course, also the story of Käthe Kruse., When her husband Max Kruse said 'well, if you cannot find a cuddly doll in Berlin, that you know fills the requirement of something cuddly and the weight of a baby you will have to make your own - so she did . And she used a potato for the doll's head to create the weight and a cloth body so that her child could cuddle and feel a baby. That wasn't as static as a composition or bisque head doll made at this time . This is extraordinary, to think that women are getting out there innovating with potatoes. I think we're all going to realise that the humble potato in the in the larder may have more going for it.

Stuart Holbrook: 15:32

There should be competitions now in the world of dolls. There should be an annual potato doll making competition.

Louisa Maxwell: 15:39

We should throw down the challenge to honour Lilli Baitz and Käthe Kruse that everybody has to make a doll with a potato.

Stuart Holbrook: 15:45

See who comes up with the most creative and unique potato doll, I don't even know how you would start to do something like that. Well, there was Mr Potato Head. 

Louisa Maxwell

He was plastic.

Stuart Holbrook

Yeah, well, true. Lilli Baitz,  was more than just a doll maker, more than just a doll company owner. She was a visionary, an artist, and she kind of led us into that boudoir period of the dolls and created that whole look and genre that was very prominent in the 1920s. I think her story is a fabulous one. It becomes one of the most tragic as well, but I think a story that is important for again remembering and understanding that period in time and what happened in Europe, to never forget that some of the most genius, greatest loving, beautiful people who gave us so much in the world of arts were taken away from us by hate. Unfortunately, the story doesn't end well for Lilli Baitz . She had returned, after her husband died, to Austria and then eventually settled in a little spa town called Bad Aussee. I haven't been there, but I'm looking forward to going there soon and maybe we need to take a road trip together, Louisa, we should go, we should go, and there's archives there in the museum to explore. She went back to her little town of Bad Aussee where she grew up and her father had health clinics there.

Louisa Maxwell: 17:17

Yes, sanatoriums.

Stuart Holbrook: 17:18

Sanatoriums, right. And so she went back to this town but only to one day receive in the mail, a letter, that because she was Jewish, of Jewish descent, she was being deported. And we know, at that point everyone knew what the deportation meant. Stripped of all of her items, objects, everything she'd built in her life would be taken away. And I think this says a lot to Lilli Baitz's character. I think people can argue - Should she have tried to survive, should she have made her best attempt? But Lilli Baitz, I guess we can kind of understand a little bit more of the pride she had of the character and the unwillingness to succumb to other people's demands as to how she should live her life. So, that day, the day she received that letter she called a very close friend who was a doctor in town and he assisted her in taking her own life that evening rather than the next day being taken away by the Nazi party.

Louisa Maxwell: 18:30

I suppose she must have wanted to choose.

Stuart Holbrook: 18:35

It's a choice that I'm sure is controversial, but I tend to be of the nature of survivor, but I guess I could see I can understand ..

Louisa Maxwell: 18:50

She was 68…

Stuart Holbrook: 18:51

She was 68 and alone

Louisa Maxwell: 18:56

We've got to realise the reality of this situation and that it was courageous what she did, Well, whatever way we think about it, she decided what she decided. You know she was in Switzerland with her sister prior to that and she could have stayed in Switzerland.

Stuart Holbrook: 19:14

I read that part too, that her sister begged her to stay in Switzerland and she said: No, I want to return home.

Louisa Maxwell: 19:2

Yes, this was her history and this was her family home. But this -This was the idea, it was to strip people of their identity, of their possessions and also being stripped of art and your work as an artist.

Stuart Holbrook: 19:44

There's a lot of conversation about how art was stripped away from so many of these families, but this is a case where I think we sometimes all forget of the great artists that were taken away from us too, and so not only the pieces that others created in the past, but the artists who were creating for now and the future were taken from us by hate. I wondered, since I've done this deep dive into Lilli Baitz's life and learning more about her genius and the tragedy in this, I wonder what would Lilli have done if she had lived? What could she have created? Yes, and I wondered did she ever really get to see the prominence she would get with that collection of dolls that she made that became known as the Traphagen and Lilli Baitz dolls? Would she ever really know that they would become an integral part of a museum and she would get accolades for creating some of the most unique dolls in the world? And then you think about today how Rosalie featured these dolls in the museum and give her credit for that. Now, they will come to auction and a whole new generation will see them. I think this is Lilli Baitz's moment. It comes far too late and long after she passed away, but I believe it's a time long overdue and we've reached the year of , her moment, and it couldn't come at a better time when we all need to take a breath and take a moment to reflect on beautiful lives that are taken away and giving her the respect and the adoration of what she gave to the world of dolls.

Louisa Maxwell: 21:31

I think it's a time, as you said, to reflect on peace, but one of the things we also speak about a lot in the podcast is the way that dolls bring people together. These dolls brought Lilli Baitz accolades from all over the world. Her dolls communicated a story about Austria, a story about craft and a story about women and art. I also like to think about Lily's work influencing fashion students at the Traphagen School, and I think would have really liked that. I do too. I really do think she would have liked that, because, after all, fashion she created those dolls, so fashion was a big part of her life.

Stuart Holbrook: 22:15

I don't think she ever really thought, I can't speak for now, we can only just speculate but I can't believe she ever really thought of herself as a doll maker Necessarily. I think she saw herself as an artist and I think that's how we need to begin looking at these dolls as well, and especially this group of dolls from the Traphagen Museum and Rosalie Whyel's Museum, that Lilli Baitz is placed on a new level of one of the greatest doll artists in history, certainly Austrian for sure.

Louisa Maxwell: 22:49

She really does bridge a gap between sculpture and doll making. Because to me I look at the beautiful dolls, which I did a lot of research on for this discussion and they remind me of Clarice Cliff. They remind me of the beautiful Hollywood silent film stars, Mary Pickford or the Gish sisters: Dorothy Gish and Lillian Gish of the time. If the listeners think of the soft, focus images of the stars of silent film, those silent stars spoke a universal language of drama and beauty and captured that. But I believe they are very much sculptures of their time and it's wonderful that they've come together as a group, that they're going to be documented as a group, that Rosalie did this and you know we have to always come back to Rosalie Whyel and the way she has preserved these wonderful stories for future generations.

Stuart Holbrook: 23:50

It was courageous what she did. She made the investment and it was not an easy investment to get all of these pieces. What could have happened? The story really starts with but goes to this art dealer Hoffheimer, then to Ethel Traphagen. Then to the curator I believe her name was Spencer, who when the museum closed had the sense to buy them all and then to Rosalie Whyel. All these lives intersected over time. To keep these pieces alive Anywhere along that chain could have been the moment that they were put down into a basement somewhere in some warehouse, forgotten and eventually thrown away: 'Oh, they're just a bunch of some dolls in these little black boxes' and they could have been lost. But fate kept it together all the way through. Fate kept these pieces moving through time, through collectors who preserved them to where we are now, and that is what I believe.

Louisa Maxwell: 25:01

Stuart Holbrook. Thank you so much for sharing this with us a story of a wonderful artist, and also again of Rosalie Whyel, who continues to reach out and touch us with these stories.

Stuart Holbrook: 25:17

Beautifully said.

Louisa Maxwell: 25:18

Indeed. Thank you, Stuart, for joining us on The Doll Podcast and I'm sure you'll join me in a hearty Auf Wiedersehen to all our listeners. We'll have lots of links to images and to stories about Rosalie Wiles on our website, www.dollpodcast.com.

This podcast is   copyright   2023  by   Louisa Maxwell, All Rights Reserved. 

This transcript is copyright    2023  by Louisa Maxwell,  All Rights Reserved.