Joe Louis

Name: Joe Louis

Made by and When: Bernard Ravca, circa 1940s

Materials: Papier-mâché head, hands, and feet; stuffed cloth body, arms, and legs

Marks: The front of a hangtag attached to the waist of the pants reads, Original RAVCA / Paris. Handwritten on the back of the hangtag, Joe Louis / 4637 (4637 is possibly an auction number).

Height: 24 inches

Hair, Eyes, and Mouth: Painted black papier-mâché hair, brown-painted eyes, closed mouth with brown lip color; has a splattering of painted facial moles

Clothes: Non-removable 1940s-inspired U.S. Army uniform (shirt, tie, and pants) with attached cap and sculpted-on brown papier-mâché boots

Other: This 24-inch one-of-a-kind character doll represents heavyweight champion boxer Joe Louis Barrow (1914 -1981). Louis is widely known as the “Brown Bomber” and one of the best heavyweight boxers of all time. Joe Louis served in the U.S. Army from 1942 to 1945 in World War II.

Made sometime during the 1940s, this remarkable portrait doll was made by Polish-born doll artist Bernard Ravca, who captured Louis’s service to his country in doll form. Ravca started his career in France but later immigrated to the U.S. in 1939 and continued creating his dolls with his wife, Frances, becoming a U.S. citizen in 1947.

On January 21, 2013, Ravca’s masterpiece of Joe Louis won a grand prize yellow ribbon in a competition held by Chesapeake Doll Club of Maryland Region 11 U.F.D.C. in the military figures category. The doll was the prized possession of its former owner for over 20 years. It is now a prized possession of DeeBeeGee’s Virtual Black Doll Museum.

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