Sasha Morgenthaler

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Sasha Morgenthaler-von Sinner (born November 30, 1893 in Bern , † February 18, 1975 in Zurich ) was a Swiss doll maker and artist.

Life

Sasha doll designed by Sasha Morgenthaler. Goetz "No Navel" series, approx. 1970.

Sasha Morgenthaler was born in Bern in 1893 as the daughter of Eduard von Sinner and Marie Borchardt-von Sinner. With the help of family friend Paul Klee , she was able to begin training as a painter at the Geneva Art Academy . In 1914 she completed a year of study with the painter Cuno Amiet , then a year of study in Munich. She married the Bernese painter Ernst Morgenthaler , whom she met in 1914, in 1916. With the marriage she gave up painting. As a result, she switched to arts and crafts and between 1918 and 1924 made toys and dolls mainly for her own children. This was followed by training as a midwife in Basel in 1934 and the production of models for the national exhibition in Zurich .

In 1941 she won first prize in the Swiss Confederation's toy competition and one year later developed the piece shapes for what would later become her “Sasha dolls”. She began the production of original dolls in 1943 together with the establishment of a team of employees, together with whom she developed and manufactured around 200 different original dolls between 1943 and 1975.

Ernst Morgenthaler died in 1962. This turning point in private life was also followed by a significant change in business life, because if the dolls produced were in high price ranges up to this point, the series production of the dolls began in 1964 by the Götz doll factory in Rödental , Germany . This collaboration was brokered by the Migros Cooperative Association and existed from 1964–1974 and then again from 1995–2001. From 1965, the now much cheaper dolls (called the Sasha series) were available in Migros supermarkets. In the meantime (1966–1986) the British company Frido / Trendon also produced. Sasha Morgenthaler made six trips around the world between 1963 and 1970 and died in Zurich in 1975. She found her final resting place in the Zurich Hönggerberg cemetery .

Design of the dolls

After numerous attempts with materials such as wax, hard rubber and synthetic resin, Sasha Morgenthaler made the majority of her models of original dolls from fabric , reinforced plaster or various types of plastic such as synthetic resin or vinyl . When painting and designing her doll models, she also followed an asymmetrical approach, according to which two eyes were never painted exactly the same and arms and legs were never exactly the same length. She also took care to avoid over-saturating the dolls with details; this was especially true for her clothing designs.

Exhibitions

The dolls designed by Sasha Morgenthaler were presented in exhibitions in various countries between 1964 and 1974, with venues including Zurich, Thun , Paris and Jerusalem . The artistic estate of Sasha Morgenthaler came to the City of Zurich in 1977 and was exhibited in the Bärengasse Museum until 2008 . The Zurich Toy Museum made a special exhibition possible in 2009. From 2011 to 2015, part of Sasha Morgenthaler's work was shown in the Lindwurm Museum in Stein am Rhein.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Communication from the Swiss National Museum (PDF; 651 kB) from 2008, quoted on the website of the city of Stein am Rhein , accessed on June 8, 2011.
personal data
SURNAME Morgenthaler, Sasha
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Morgenthaler-von Sinner, Sasha
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss doll maker
DATE OF BIRTH November 30, 1893
PLACE OF BIRTH Bern
DATE OF DEATH 18th February 1975
Place of death Zurich