Doll Reader
USA November 2011

Sabine Vogel's Porcelain Creations
Explore the magical art of German artist Sabine Vogel.

By Eva Masthoff

Sabine Vogel's realm of the doll is a place of myth and magic, and anyone
entering it will be amazed at the world of wonder in store.
As autumn gently proceeds into dark days and long nights, Vogel's creatures
weave a unique winter's tale spell. She is clearly attracted to literary fantasies. However, her most fascinating three-dimensional storytellers are the product
of her own fertile imagination.

Vogel's striking new venture is undoubtedly her series of beautiful women with exquisite features and unobtrusive ball joints. Triangular joints in the elbows
allow the hands to stretch aloft gracefully. They allow the arm to bend and the
hand to touch the face. Except for the custom-made mouth-blown crystal eyes,
which give a touch of melancholy or mystery to the windows of the soul, Vogel
makes everything herself.

Vogel sees herself as one of the pioneers of the ball-jointed doll. "In 1992, when
I first presented Rufio, one of my first movable porcelain figures at the EDG
Congress in Hamburg, porcelain ball-jointed dolls were something entirely new,"
says Vogel. "I was awarded a prize for the best idea."

To heighten the lifelike expression of a figure by endowing it with a high measure
of movability has always been the artist's most important goal. "The small figure
of a red Indian boy, which I fashioned from clay, wire, and leather at the age of 15
had already been fitted with 10 joints for a more lifelike expression and to enable
him to adopt a variety of poses," says Vogel.

During many a sleepless night, Vogel thought up the idea of inserting slanted discs
and a wedge in the doll. "I always keep a pen on my bedside table, just in case
I have a brilliant idea that might otherwise have vanished by the time I wake up
in the morning," she says. Having given the dolls the ability to move freely, the body language changes, but it also allows them to mirror an entirely different mood or emotion.

Vogel's Beautiful Beasts - Homo Gracilis series stands for awesome, erotic, sensuous, reticent, strong, and fragile creatures that are shrouded in mystery. "My work is
clearly in tune with modern times," she says. "At the same time my dolls are
classical, like the material I use, porcelain."

Each piece in the collection is OOAK. "My figures increasingly progress toward being movable sculptures," says Vogel. "Porcelain prevails, ousting silk and other fabrics. I have started modeling costumes, jewelry, shoes, and skin structure in porcelain
directly onto the body. They are figures of adults with gender-typical features.
They do not want to come over as cute dolls."
Her dolls are alluring, thought provoking, and according to Vogel, "people collect my dolls to underline and emphasize their own personality."

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