Believe it or not, I came across that photo of two of Charles Russel’s Native American dolls in a book at the U.S. Consulate in Leningrad, USSR back in 1980. The Consulate maintained a small library in the building in case some brave city citizen might make it past the two Military guards stationed out front! Anyway…..Charlie would make these caricatures by modeling the heads out of wax and then constructed the bodies out of cloth and other material. Lucky for me I took a photo of the two dolls and in 1993, retired and back in Oklahoma, I used them as a guide in trying my hand at carving my first Native American figures in 1997. Now, not to boast, but I think I did pretty good.
Comments welcome.
P.S. Also in that little library, there was a thick, paperback book titled Lonesome Dove. Don’t tell anyone but that great opus is now dog eared and resting on a shelf in our back bedroom. Surely, the statute of limitations has ran out by now? Hope so.
These are awesome! I still really like the closed eyed look . They always just look happier.