Reflections of the South

African American Dolls

"Gabrielle"

A New Orleans Quadroon

Gabrielle is a New Orleans Quadroon Doll, a beautiful free woman of color. She is a mixture of French ancestry and African American. The distinguished foreigners who visited New Orleans cannot ignore the amorous excitement aroused by the beautiful quadroons. An English traveler, His Highness Bernhard, Duke of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach, found them to be the most beautiful women on earth. He wrote, "Many of them has as fair complexion as many of the Haughty Creole females. The Gabrielle Doll is shown below getting ready for the New Orleans Quadroon Ball, held at the Orleans Ballroom. This quadroon doll is 18 inches in height and sits on a white wooden stool designed by Brian Bernard. She is dress in a beautiful blue velvet and satin robe design by JoAnn Bernard and Evelyn Gonzales. Beneath her robe she wears a white ruffled under dress. Gabrielle gazes into her hand sculpted flowered mirror that is placed in her right hand. Her doll wig is made of black strands of mohair. Her accessories are: a hand-sculpted mirror, pearl drop earrings, and a pearl head dress. One of the Gabrielle's distinct features is her bare feet. JoAnn's unique doll body design allows her to be positioned in various ways by bending her arms at the elbow joints and by bending her legs at the knee joints. This feature adds to the life-like quality of the piece. Accompanying the character doll is a booklet and display card designed by JoAnn to include; the number of the piece, the inspirational sketch, a short bio, and a story about the character. All clay pieces are limited editions of 500. A numbered and signed Certificate of Authenticity is also provided with the character doll.

African American Doll
Gabrielle

A New Orleans Quadroon
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Sample Booklet

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Clicking of the sample booklet cover (above) will bring you to the story page for this character doll.
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©Jo Ann Bernard.

Original African American Dolls

by JoAnn Bernard

An original clay doll collection, for the doll collecting enthusiast

Original African American Dolls recreating Louisiana Life in the 1800's. Learn about Louisiana Culture through this African American Heritage Doll collection inspired by sketches, photographs and stories of the 1800's. These African American lifelike handmade dolls have attached booklets and display cards with short historical essays about the character. All dolls are reproduced in clay using JoAnn Bernard's plaster molds developed from her original doll designs. Doll wigs, clothing, dress designs, and props are all handmade by the artist.

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Louisiana Heritage Dolls

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For more information email: jo_ann_bernard@southernelegance.net