Morton Bartlett at Julie Saul

Fifteen finely sculpted, meticulously proportioned plaster dolls, plus doll parts, costumes and a number of astonishing photographs of the dolls, surfaced at a New York antiques show in 1993. The material had been stored in purpose-built wooden boxes when the cache was found in a Boston townhouse belonging to the dolls' maker, the late Morton Bartlett (1909-1992). In an autobiographical sketch for a Harvard alumni report, Bartlett described himself as a freelance advertising photographer, a publisher and a hobbyist sculpting in plaster. Twelve extant figures are of young girls; the three others are variants of a gap-toothed little boy thought to be the artist's surrogate at eight, the age when he was orphaned and adopted.

News of Bartlett's dolls spread among outsider-art aficionados when they were exhibited at an outsider-art fair in 1995, where artist Laurie Simmons saw them; she later published an appreciation of his work. Bartlett's reputation now extends beyond any specialized arena, thanks to a recent exhibition at Julie Saul which rightly placed primary focus on his vintage black-and-white photographs, most of them around 4 1/2 by 3 inches, untitled and dated 1955, and 10 remarkable chromogenic prints dated 1955/2006, made from slides and enlarged to 28 1/4 by 20 inches.

A cursory examination of the articulated limbs and costumes reveals that the dolls were intended to come apart, allowing for wardrobe changes. While all the photographs reveal the realistic nature of Bartlett's costuming, the large modern prints show nuances of that effort--sweaters knit in miniature, pleats, smocking, knee-high socks, jewelry, hats, sandals and shoes. Eyelashes are carefully painted on, not glued; hands gesture, or are placed firmly and defiantly on the hips; and each setup is carefully lit. Props include a tilt-top tea table in scale.

A vintage black-and-white group shot featuring most of the dolls recalls the stars of Little Women dressed for a costume party--they resemble June Allyson, Elizabeth Taylor, Margaret Sullavan. Another vintage shot shows an older and younger sister. The younger girl wears a hair band, flared skirt and puff-sleeved blouse, a brooch at her throat; next to her, the taller adolescent wears a similar blouse along with a straw hat and beads. Bartlett provides a backdrop of a cottage in the distance. Elsewhere the taller doll appears nude, her breasts and pudendum sculpted with anatomical correctness. Particularly expressive dolls include a weeping girl, her face shining with tears, and another nearby, lasciviously licking her lips. The gap-toothed boy laughs as though in victory.

The full story of Bartlett's work and life remains a mystery, prompting a wide range of associations: the work of Simmons, Henry Darger's Vivian Girls, Lewis Carroll's Alice, Degas's sculptures of young dancers, Nabokov's iconic Lolita, the paintings of Balthus, the carpenter Geppetto and the sculptor Pygmalion. Simmons herself offers an aside, referring to Maurice Chevalier's thankfulness for "little girls" in the film Gigi, and remarks that Bartlett's dog was named "Gigi."

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