Name: Faith, a Leo-Moss-Inspired Doll
Made by and When: Gloria Y. Rone, 1/27/2025
Material: Clay, cloth, paint, stuffing, cotton textiles, glue
Marks: (Head) GYR / 25;(wrist tags) a small wrist tag bears the doll’s name, Faith, and the date, 1/27/25, on the back. A larger tag bears the scripture, Hebrews 11:6, on the front and extends to the back along with the artist’s signature. (Back) A brown paper label attached to the doll’s back reads: “Faith” / Created by Artist / Gloria Young Rone / Leo Moss Inspired cloth and clay doll / Hebrews 11:6 / 1/27/25 / G.Y.R.
Height: 18 inches
Hair, Eyes, Mouth: Short black sculpted clay hair with three top knots adorned with sheer white ribbons, sculpted frowning eyebrows, brown inset eyes outlined in black with a teardrop falling from each, frowning mouth with coral lip color
Clothes: Faith wears a hand-made vintage-style green and white dress with lace trim at the collar, at the sleeves, and along the edges of the bodice. The bodice lace extends down the center of the skirt, and two white ribbon bows accent the bodice lace at the waist. Off-white pantaloons and hand-made lace-trimmed off-white shoes complete her outfit. An aged oval-shaped box accented with a Christian cross on the lid contains a hand-made Holy Bible.
Other: From the late 1800s through the 1930s, Leo Moss, a Black man and native of Macon, GA, was a handyman by trade who sculpted new heads and faces over existing manufactured dolls and/or combined doll parts to create ethnically correct black dolls for his children, family, friends, and on commission. Contemporary doll artists, intrigued by Moss’s ingenuity, fashion dolls in the Leo Moss style. This one-of-a-kind doll was inspired by Moss’s work.
Hebrews 11:6 “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”
Gallery
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