Information
Exhibit
Sasha Doll Books, Errata, Sales
Restoration & Repair
Self-Help Sasha-Care
Knitting Patterns
Knitting Kits

What are Sasha Dolls?
Books
Bibliography
Online Bulletin Boards
Festival

Sasha Dolls Information

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Updated: April 14, 2021

The official Sasha Morgenthaler website has been launched, sponsored by the Inheritance Community of Sasha Morgenthaler together with the City of Zurich and other sponsors. The City of Zurich was endowed with Sasha Morgenthaler's artistic estate in 1976 and the purpose of the website is to present her estate of about 120 dolls and animals online. It is a must-see website for anyone interested in the life and work of our mentor and creator of our favorite dolls. German language English language

Free patterns for hand knitters: Cora's Dress and Panties; Baby Woolly Outfit; Gregor's Pullover & Wintersport's Cap; Caleb & Baby Ginger Plain Pullovers.

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Current Exhibit:
Souvenir Outfits
From Sasha Festivals, all the souvenir outfits 1983-2018.

For Knitters

Visit the Kits and the Patterns pages, to find nifty items to knit for Sasha, Gregor and Baby.

Self-Help Care for Sasha Dolls offers how-to-do-it advice and tips on the care and preservation of your Sasha.

Photographs and text at this website are copyrighted.
© Susanna Lewis, 2021.

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REFERENCE ARCHIVE
A picture catalog of all the Sasha dolls from the 1990s Götz production (1995 - 2001) can be seen here. The dolls are grouped year by year, with their names and style numbers, in photos you can print.

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What are Sasha Dolls?    
   Sasha dolls were created by the late Sasha Morgenthaler (1893 - 1975), a Swiss artist and artisan. She was also a humanitarian and a keen observer of all the world's children. Her vision was to create dolls that represented and reflected the spirit of children of all races and cultures during their age of innocence.

   A protégé of Paul Klee and a contemporary of Karl Geiser, Sasha had formal schooling in painting and sculpture, married the painter Ernst Morgenthaler, and was active in European artistic and social movements. Beginning in the 1940s until her death in 1975, Sasha created one-of-a-kind 20" cloth, gypsum, and plastic dolls in her studio. She travelled the world extensively, studying children of all racial, cultural, and economic groups to portray in her dolls. These dolls are considered museum-quality works of art, created by an artist who turned to doll-making to portray her vision. During her lifetime, Sasha's dolls were sold from her studio and through the Heimatwerk shops in Switzerland. In the USA, Marshall Field & Co. in Chicago exhibited and sold her dolls.

   But the dolls Sasha created for children to play with, were too expensive for most families. Her dream was to make an inexpensive play doll that would have universal appeal for all children. Her dream came true in the mid 1960s when she developed the design for the 16" serie play-dolls, manufactured in Germany and England, that became so popular around the world during the 1960s - 1980s. These serie dolls possess some unique features: they have beautifully stylized body parts that are in quarter scale, asymmetrical, and in realistic proportion, like real humans. They are perfectly balanced and can assume many poses without a doll stand - they can even stand on their heads! Their skin colorings are blends of all skin colorings, to represent all the children of the world, and they have individually hand painted faces with receptive expressions, each one ready to reflect whatever mood its child will give it.

   There have been three productions of serie Sasha dolls, made by two different companies. Götz-Puppenfabrik GmbH of Rödental, Germany made Sasha dolls from 1965 - 1970, and again from 1995 - 2001. Frido/Trendon/Sasha Dolls Ltd of Stockport, England made Sasha dolls from 1966 - 1986. The dolls from the three productions have similar vinyl bodies and heads, with rooted nylon hair and painted eyes and lips, but differ in style and face painting. The German Sashas from both productions are marked on their backs and necks with the Sasha logo, while the English dolls are unmarked. All Sasha dolls wear wrist tags on their right wrists - a string with a little medallion bearing the Sasha logo. The early German Sashas are more plentiful in Europe than in America, while the reverse is true for the English dolls. Dolls from the most recent German production can be found everywhere.

   In the past, Sasha's one-of-a-kind studio original dolls from her own personal collection were housed at the Sasha Morgenthaler Puppenmuseum, in the Bärengasse Museum in Zurich, Switzerland. Now, the Sasha collection has been closed, and is being exhibited from time to time at different venues, until a new permanent location can be found for the collection. The book Sasha Puppen / Sasha Dolls by Stefan Biffiger (see just below) pictures the dolls that were housed at the Puppenmuseum, and also contains essays about her life and work.

Books    
At this time three new, very comprehensive full color books about Sasha dolls have been published. There are also older, out of print books you can find on the secondary market. Click here for Books.

Bibliography
For those who want to find more pictures and information about Sasha dolls, a bibliography of articles published in American magazines is provided for your own research. Many of these magazines can be found for sale on eBay. Click here for the Bibliography.

Fraternal Twins: No two Sasha dolls are ever exactly alike. These two Brunette Ginghams from the English production, date from late 1968. They have side parted hair and thin wispy bangs.

Communicate with other Sasha-lovers!

Online Bulletin Boards
We have several Facebook groups open to friendly and helpful people who love Sasha Dolls. Come and join us and talk about everything Sasha. We welcome beginner and experienced collectors alike!
   Sasha Morgenthaler Dolls: moderated by Diane Duke
   Sasha Doll Study Group: moderated by Janet Dabbs
These are the two Facebook groups for information and conversation. There are more groups on Facebook, for buying and selling Sasha dolls and clothing.

The Sasha Festival
Every year Sashaphiles from here and abroad gather for a weekend of fun and comraderie. The gathering place is in a different location each year. The next Festival will be held in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, July 15-18, 2021. It is hosted by the Bolland family, Lauri, Gabbi, and Gracie.  If you live or plan to vacation in this historic area of Pennsylvania, do not miss this event! The registration form and information about the festival is in this pdf file which you can view and download here festival registration.
     The planning for future Festivals is all ready underway:
      2022 - Syracuse, New York, hosted by Carol Brooks and Sharon Costie.
      2023 - Portland, Oregon, hosted by Karen and Kurt Renn.