Name: Authentic African Doll
(Two versions are in this installation. Nne Uku wears a red traditional African costume; an unnamed doll wears an earth tone costume.)
Sculpted by: Native American doll artist, Loretta Daum Byrne
Clothing Designed by: Emeaba Emeaba
Manufactured by and When: Fibre-Craft, 1994
Material: Rigid vinyl head, blow-mold plastic body, paint, synthetic hair, authentic African fabric
Marks: (Head) ©Loretta Daum Byrne / 1988; (back) MADE IN CHINA
Height: 14 inches
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Rooted, black curly, synthetic hair; brown painted eyes with painted upper and lower eyelashes, closed mouth with red lip color
Clothes: Authentic African Dolls wear traditional African fashions designed by Emeaba Emeaba, whose headshot is on the front of the box. The boxed doll, Nne Uku #3941, wears a red African-print tunic and skirt, with a white sleeveless blouse and black sandals. This doll is featured on the box side panel and on the back of the box in a group picture with other versions. The second doll in this installation wears a full-length earth tone traditional African dress and a matching headwrap.
Other: Several Authentic African Dolls were made, given unique style numbers and names, and dressed in different authentic-styled African fashions designed by Emeaba Emeaba, a Nigerian-born author, publisher, and designer. Native American doll artist Loretta Daum Byrne created the head sculpt. Fibre-Craft manufactured the dolls. This installation includes two Authentic African Dolls, Nne Uku and an unboxed/unnamed version.
About Emeaba Emeaba, from the back of the box panel: “While pursuing a doctorate at the University of Florida, Emeaba discovered that his colleagues valued his first-hand knowledge of genuine African apparel. Creating authentic hand-tailored fashions soon occupied his attention full time. Today, Emeaba is regarded as one of this country’s foremost master tailors and designers of traditional African clothing.” The fashion designer’s full biography is printed on the back of the box. The back of the box also illustrates a group of Authentic African Dolls, some of which are also illustrated on both box side panels. See the gallery photos.
Loretta Daum Byrne (1932–1922) was an American doll artist, costume designer, writer, and doll historian/collector known primarily for creating handmade ethnic and cultural dolls during the 1980s and for publishing doll-related educational materials. Her work reflected an appreciation for world cultures, traditional costume history, and folk dress traditions.
She is especially remembered among collectors for:
- Designing handcrafted dolls dressed in detailed international and ethnic costumes
- Creating dolls representing Native American, Japanese, and other cultural themes
- Writing instructional and historical doll publications, including World Friends, a 1989 booklet featuring patterns and historical information for national costumes
- Contributing to the broader educational side of doll collecting through costume interpretation and preservation of cultural dress traditions
Gallery (The boxed doll is part of the curator’s private collection. Photos of the unnamed doll dressed in earth-tone African-print fabric are courtesy of Debra Richardson.)
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