French Tanagra Doll

This week a sweet cabinet sized Tanagra doll arrived on my doorstep. The triangular Tanagra Perle Depose trademark on her bisque head presented a challenge to research. Some digs into the past revealed some sad images of tragedy and the economic struggles in Paris’ Tanagra Doll maker world during the 1920s.

But first things first. My first question lay behind the word TANAGRA. Why in the world did they choose the word tanagra. The antique doll journey always involves learning new words.

Terracotta Tanagra Figurines

A tour of museums like the Louvre, one will find ancient “tanagra” figurines made of terracotta. These figurines reflect the fashionable women of an area north of Athens known as Boeotia.  The figurines reflected mortal normal women. Perhaps the company got inspired to use “tanagra” reflecting the practie of calling Parian dolls after their resemblance to Greek parian marble.

 Perhaps the owners of the Tanagra Doll company thought their bisque doll heads resembled the color of the terracotta tanagra figurines or maybe they thought of dressing the dolls as normal girls of the time just as the tanagra child figurines perhaps did.

In the section of Greek and Roman Antiquities, Drout described such a fashionable tanagra figurine in the collection of Hoffman auction of 1899 in Paris. She is described as a “woman wearing a large red twist and dressed in a yellow chiton covered with a sky blue mantle – Tanagra.”

Tanagra Doll History

Some say the doll mark on the Tanagra Perle Doll belonged to a company called “Société Industrielle de Jouets Française.”  French publications during the 1920s used this company name “Société Industrielle de Jouets Française” along with the phrase “Bébés Tanagra” (Tanagra Babies or Tanagra Baby Dolls).

1920 A Beginning of the Tanagra Doll

It seems that the Tanagra dolls previously worked with a different name. Le Courrier, December 3, 1920 announced the new company “Société des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra” with a capital of 1,650,000 francs. The notice gives these names as the adminstrators: Arthur Neuberger, Alfred Bernheim, Julien Briault, Albert Levy, and Ernest Lefebvre. The legal notice of the Tanagra doll company’s formation listed an address of 11, rue Bergere, Paris.

1922 Tanagra Doll Factory Fire

In 1922 a fire occurred at the factory. Nevertheless, France’s national library has on record press photos from a fire that occurred at the Bébés Tanagra Tanagra doll factory. Photos show fireman drenching a wrecked brick building with water. The building seems to have collapsed. The photos mention that the incident occurred in Montreuil.

“Le Petit Parisien” reported the fire in Montreuil destroyed the Bébés Tanagra factory that employed 300 workers at the time. The damage done would cost 500,000 francs or more and at least 5 of the employees lost jobs. The impact of the loss was greater than 500,000 which reflects later in legal notices published in 1923.

According to Le Rappel newspaper the factory was completely destroyed and 300 workers were unemployed for about a month.

On another note, for the sake of reference to location, the much larger and more well known S.F.B.J. doll company held an address nearby at 93 Montreuil-sous-Bois. A similar sad incident happened at the old Jumeau doll factory at the 64, rue Francois-Arago address in 1899 which at the time was newly owned by S.F.B.J.

1923 Dissolution and New Formation for Tanagra Dolls

In 1923 the previous Bébés Tanagra company of “Société des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra” had a change of name.  Perhaps due to the horrific fire the previous year and bad publicity, who knows.  But in May of 1923 the company’s name changes from  “Société des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra” to  “Bébés Tanagra, Société Industrielle de Jouets Française.”  

The formation of the new Bébés Tanagra, Société Industrielle de Jouets Française occured on May 7, 1923, then five days latter The Société des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra dissolution occurred on May 12, 1923.

The dissolution of the first and the formation of the latter got announced in the June 6, 1923 issue of a weekly newspaper called “Archives Commerciales de la France” (pages 862-863).  For both announcements the listing provides 11, Bergere as an address and a value of 1,000,000 francs.  In only two years, the company had lost nearly 650,000 francs of capital, probably due to the fire in 1922.

The dissolution notice only lists Ernest Lefebvre’s name of all the administrator names found in the 1920 formation notice. The new 1923 formation announcement provides no administrator names.

“Paris. – dissolution – 12 Mai 1923 – Soc. des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra, 11, Bergere. – L.M. Ernest Lefebvre. – 7 mai 1923. – G. P.”

1924 Tragic Bébés Tanagra Factory Fire

The Bebe Tanagra factory seemed prone to devastating fires.  Though the name of the company has changed and maybe the owners, it seems that the practices within the factory itself in how to safely operate the ovens had not. A very tragic fire occurred in 1924 that ended the life of a young 15 year old worker, Raymonde Garnier, The writer reporting the story uses the company name “Société Industrielle de Jouets Française” and S.I.J.F.

The article published in “L’Humanite”  describes the very horrific and sad tale of a girl working near a fire with alcohol chemicals soaking her apron.  She turns to show her work on a doll to her fellow workers and the back of the apron ties fall into the stove catching fire only to engulf her in flames.  The narrative describe her running outside here and there until they were able to take her down and wrap her, but by then the wounds had taken her.

When an ambulance came, they drove to three hospitals that refused to admit her and after two hours of driving through the city a hospital took her in, but she died during the night.  What kind of city in the 20th century had hospitals that refuse such a desperate need?

The writer describes the girl’s boss from the Tanagra doll factory attended the funeral and laughed during the event to the dismay of the child’s parent.  The writer voiced heavy dismay over the sad life of the “proletarians” or low class workers of the time. The tone of the article reflects some of the negative tones usually reserved for the German doll factories at the turn of the century.

1928 Dissolution of Tanagra Doll Company

The company name Société Industrielle de Jouets Française appears in an ad found published in January 1928. The ad starts “Bébés Tanagra, Soc Ind. de Jouets Française” with a capital of 1,000,000 francs.” It seems the company sought a buyer for the purpose of liquidation.

Then later that year the company name appears again in the July 24 issue of Les Echos at the bottom of a column of new companies, modified companies, and dissolved companies.  “Bébés Tanagra, Société Industrielle de Jouets Française” sits alone under dissolutions. The announcement read “Siege a paris, 11, rue Bergere. La Société anonyme est dissoute.  Liquidateur: M. Laborde.” Translated as “Headquarters in Paris, 11, rue Bergere. The limited company is dissolved. Liquidator: Mr. Laborde.”

The same dissolution notice appears again in July 28, 1928 in the issue of “Le Courrier,” a trade guide or daily newspaper that listed legal and judicial notices. Le Courrier worded the legal notice slightly differently but the same Bergere address. Translated it reads:

“Bébés Tanagra (Industrial Company of French Toys), 11, rue Bergere, Paris. – Public limited company with a capital of 1 million fr. – dissolution from July 2, 1928. – Liquidator: Mr. Laborie, 5, rue Ordener, Paris.” Le Courrier; 28 July 1928; (Gallica.bnf.fr)

1929 Tanagra Dolls in America

Bébés Tanagra did not yet disappear.  The doll company finds itself listed in the Annual France – America Directory of French Imports in the United States, Canada, and Latin America as a “New World Buyer’s Guide.” (January 1, 1929). The guide makes a simple list in a section entitled “Jeux et Jouets” under “Poupees” as “Bébés Tanagra, 11, rue Bergere, Paris, 9e.” But the book directs the reader to find more details in “The Industrial Directory, title 453” or “L’ANNUAIRE INDUSTRIEL.”

Later in the Buyer’s Guide an alphabetical list presents Tanagra under “Bébés Tanagra – Poupees, 11, rue Bergere, Paris, 9e.”

After reading the various notices and news articles, I decided that the company can easily go by the name Bébés Tanagra which is much easier to say that either of the officially registered names of Société Industrielle de Jouets Française or the earlier one of Société des Bébés et Jouets Tanagra.

Click here to read about the Rabery-Delphieu French dolls made during the same time period as Etienne Denamur and sometimes confused with Denamur dolls.

See some French doll shoe markings here.