Biography and History Ilse Wippler

sfeerfoto Ilse WipplerFull of feeling and incredibly realistic- Künstlerpoppen from Ilse Wippler Honest, clear and artless: Ilse Wippler, doll artist since 1933.

“Maybe there is a certain egotistical motive and goal for my creations, to give limited life to my dolls. My models are an attempt to get the youthful and innocent expressions in the growing up period onto my dolls” Ilse Wippler wished her whole life to be busy with art. As an independent worker she had the opportunity to use her creativity outside of work, in baking and modeling. The little free time she had was spent painting and baking pots. In 1957 she went to porcelain work school as a student, here she mastered form giving and took painting and sketching classes. In unusual designs she created happy relief figures and hand painted beer mugs. Her work with clay created the basis for the detailed and mastered technique we now see back in her current work. During the restoration of antique items her love for dolls came to light, through rigorous collecting. Patiently she searched through the lesson books and made inquiries at antique stores and asked for advice from people already in the business. She discovered an old man who, using the old recipes made bone glue and binding materials for the filling for her. Thus she gathered an impressive collection of porcelain, celluloid and papier-mâché dolls from the years 1880-1930 which Ilse tried to return to their original state. The collector still goes from flea market to flea market looking for old dolls that need to be fixed. After the restoration she had to recreate the antique dolls with readymade shapes and bodies. But also this did not fulfill the artistic demands made by Ilse Wippler, so she, on insistence from her friends, created her own first doll. A fantasy face with a complete body, but with mouth blown eyes and hand stitched clothing from real antique materials. Made with a very realistic face, modeled hands and feet, chestplate and with a fabric body the second doll pushed Ilse from amateur to professional. She is still owned by the artist. During private courses she eventually passed her love for dolls on to others in 1986/87. She gave lessons in the making of shapes, the pouring of porcelain, the finish, the baking and the fire colors on the face in the mean time her house was turned into an atelier ,working as a doll maker is her life. These days Ilse Wippler makes her dolls using photos, for her it’s especially the mouth in which you see the character of a child. The handmade dolls which are only made once really reveal her artistical abilities and how good she is at her craft. These originals are made exclusively by Sigikid as valuable Künstlerpoppen in vinyl, they are limited and made by hand with love.

© Hesemans Breda 1993