Bye Lo Baby
PeriodCirca 1922
Place MadeGermany
MediumBisque porcelain, composition, cotton, cotton batting
Dimensions16 × 8 × 4.5 in. (40.6 × 20.3 × 11.4 cm)
ClassificationsDolls
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Francis W. McMenimen, 1974
Object number1979.700.76
DescriptionA baby doll, commercially named the Bye Lo Baby, consisting of a bisque porcelain head with delicately painted hair and facial features. The head, which is marked "Copr. by Grace S. Putnam" on the nape of the neck, attaches to a stuffed cloth body. The doll's arms and legs are made of composition, a form of molded lightweight glue and sawdust mixture. The doll is dressed in a cotton batiste long gown, made for an actual infant sometime in the late 19th or early 20th century.Curatorial RemarksThe Association's Bye Lo baby appears to be one of the earliest of Grace Storey Putnam's designs. The bisque head is beautifully crafted, but does not have the "sleeping eyes" or the "realistic infant cry" of later Bye Los. Although the Bye Lo dolls were sold dressed in white cotton batiste infant gowns, this doll is dressed in an actual newborn sized white cotton batiste gown, probably dating to the late 19th or early 20th century, as a replacement for the doll's original clothing.NotesThe Bye-Lo Baby, nicknamed the "Million Dollar Baby" by eager consumers, was the creation of artist and sculptor Grace Storey Putnam. Storey was born in 1877 in San Diego, California. She attended art school, studying sculpture, painting, and drawing. She married fellow artist and sculptor Arthur Putnam. The couple divorced in 1915. Grace Putnam gave painting and drawing lessons in order to support her children. She also designed and made dolls for local clients to supplement her income. In 1920, she sculpted the head of a three-day-old infant to use in creating a realistic baby doll. Putnam's decision to create such a realistic image was unusual at the time, but was highly successful. She received four copyrights for her designs, one in 1922, two in 1923, and one in 1924, both for the original sculpture as well as variations and improvements. The early Bye Lo baby doll heads were made of bisque or unglazed porcelain in Germany, then added to stuffed cloth bodies with composition arms and legs in the United States. The New York firm of George Borgfeldt and Company was Putnam's sole distributor. Later Bye Lo babies were made of wood, wax, celluloid, or composition in the United States. The dolls came in several sizes and were sold until 1952. Grace Storey Putnam married a second time in 1927 to Eugene Morahan. The couple divorced in 1941. Putnam died in Malibu, California in 1948 at the age of 77. A 1925 newspaper advertisement priced the Bye Lo dolls from $4 to $10, "according to size."
Collections
Hannah E. Deacon
Hannah Vanderveer
