Kewpie Baby Dolls by Rose O'Neill

Composition Kewpies from 1946, on the right is Kewpie's Big Sis.

        Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were conceived as comic strip characters by cartoonist Rose O'Neill. The illustrated cartoons, appearing as baby cupid characters, began to gain popularity after the publication of O'Neill's comic strips in 1909, and O'Neill began to illustrate and sell paper doll versions of the Kewpies. The characters were first produced as bisque dolls in Waltershausen, Germany, beginning in 1912, and became extremely popular in the early 20th century. Eventually but composition versions were introduced in the 1920s, and celluloid versions were manufactured in the following decades. In 1949, Effanbee created the first hard plastic versions of the dolls, and soft rubber and vinyl versions were produced by Cameo Co. and Jesco between the 1960s and 1990s.

• More About Rose O'Neill
• Kewpie Dolls - a century of adorable, chubby dolls from the heart of Rose O'Neill.
• Art History Virtual Exhibition
• The Prolific Illustrator Behind Kewpies Used Her Cartoons for Women's Rights

The creator of Kewpie, Rose O'Neill.

  Return to the Doll Guide Index Page