I Pity the Dolls
224 pages
Edited by Greg Rivera & Quang Le
Design by Mike Esso
28.6 x 22.3 cm
Language: English
Hardback
Publisher: Schiffer Books
2019
I Pity the Dolls features the largest collection of Mr. T memorabilia in the world, including over 150 homemade soft sculpture dolls collected and documented over the past 25 years.
The dolls were made from a pattern book by Miss Martha Originals from Gadsden, Alabama, that in 1983 could be bought at thousands of craft stores in the country, including Walmart. Inspired by the Cabbage Patch Kid craze of the 1980s, the dolls were made in an unknown amount but probably exist in the thousands. Each doll is a labor of love and represents the skill level of each artisan.
As modern-day folk art they have been recognized as such by the American Folk Art Museum in NYC, and they have toured the world in art exhibitions, including in NYC, San Francisco, Toronto, and Paris, France.