Although freelance artist Dolores Valenza was a relative latecomer to porcelain sculpture, she first began creating art as a very young child. She credited her numerous visits to The Brooklyn Museum as being one of her earliest influences and was especially drawn to the work of the Impressionists. Later she attended the Pratt Institute which is a private university in Brooklyn specializing in art, architecture and engineering, and also Fordham University in the Bronx.
A late-1960s magazine advertisement for Ophelia sparked her interest in art porcelain and her determination to one day create sculptures for Cybis. She took ceramics classes at the Museum before securing a job at a local mold-making company, where she learned all aspects of porcelain production. A friend suggested that she submit samples of her work to the Cybis studio, who offered Dolores her first commission in that medium.
Although two surviving Cybis artists remember Dolores as having sculpted some of the ‘Portraits in Porcelain’, they could not recall which specific ones those were. Only three are known for certain. One of them is Priscilla who was introduced as a limited edition of 500 in 1976 for $825. The edition was completed in 1983.
Unfortunately, we cannot assume that Priscilla is a typical example of Dolores Valenza’s work! The attribution to Dolores is only known because an example appeared on eBay in early 2024, with this written on the bottom:
Dolores Valenza My A/P [illegible] from Cybis – greatly altered from [faded/illegible words, but probably ‘my model’]
This means that the retail edition of Priscilla doesn’t much resemble the piece that Dolores designed. What and where were the differences? Without a photo of the original model that Cybis bought from her, it is impossible to know.
The other known Valenza design is Queen Esther. This information comes from a November 1979 newspaper article in the Los Angeles Times by Mark Larson.
American artist Dolores Valenza will participate in the first oil show she has given in eight years on Sunday at Raphael Galleries in La Jolla…About 20 paintings[…] will be on display in the Sunday showing.[…] She received 13 commissions from Cybis, including a figurine of Queen Esther which was presented as a gift from the United States to Golda Meir.
The gift of state mentioned in the article was given by President Gerald Ford in 1975.
A very popular open edition that I just recently learned was created by Dolores is Betty Blue, who was produced from 1974 until the late 1980s. In the late 1970s, a pink-decorated version was chosen to be the annual retailer-event piece, and in 2002 the Cybis Betty Blue was an integral part of an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond.
Dolores Valenza Designs for Hutschenreuther
Dolores later moved to Germany and became the first woman to ever work in the design department at the Hutschenreuther porcelain works in Selb. She was recommended to them by sculptor Gunther Granget who was designing for them at the time.
‘Profiles in Porcelain’ was a series of six sculptures of noteworthy women. All but one are between 9” and 13” tall (the outlier is not standing.) They were produced in editions of 500 per design in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
Helen of Troy, about 12” tall
Jennie Churchill, about 12” tall
Isolde
Isabella of Castile measures 9” x 11” x 7”.
Judith is only 6.5” because of her posture. In The Book of Judith, she seduces and then kills the general commanding King Nebuchadnezzar’s army, thus saving her city from destruction.
Catherine the Great, about 13” tall
The smaller pieces that she did for Hutschenreuther are identifiable by the incised name D Valenza on the underside. This example is Dreamer and is 4.5” high.
This courting couple is another small piece.
The Princess Plates series was produced at about that same time. Each of the six designs was manufactured in an edition of 5000. The plates are 10” in diameter.
Princess Snowflake began the series in 1978.
Blossom Queen followed in 1979. The information on the back was shown in German, English and French. The poem for the Blossom Queen reads
Come away with me to my palace – no roof just sky above with blossoms for your jewels warm breezes embrace you with love.
Princess Marina was released in 1980 at a retail price of $100. Appropriately for her name, she wears seaweed, coral and pearl adornments as well as shell earrings.
Princess Starbright was one of two plates for 1981.
Harvest Queen was the other 1981 plate.
Princess Aura closed out the series in 1982.
Gorham Dolls by Dolores Valenza
Dolores Valenza created a series of at least three doll heads for Gorham which they released as part of their ‘Childhood Memories’ series in 1991. They were made in Taiwan based on Dolores’ head sculpts. The head and hands are porcelain, attached to a soft body and legs, and sold for $98 each.
These were identified as hers by a hangtag and also by the backstamp applied to the back of the neck.
Amanda Celebrates Bunny’s Birthday.
Kimberly Claps to Pat-a-Cake was the second doll in the series, based on the box design showing model # CM2
Jessica Anne’s Playtime.
Susannah’s Wedding Day was part of Gorham’s Bride Doll Collection. This appears to be the only adult bride doll that Gorham made; the others are child dolls dressed in a bride outfit.
Dolores Valenza Designs for Other Studios
Dolores also designed at least one female figure for Royal Doulton. Although a search for ‘royal doulton dolores valenza’ turns up several results purporting to be hers, examination of the photos show that those attributions are not correct and should have cited a different artist. However, Lady Guinevere is definitely a Dolores Valenza piece. She is 9.25” high.
I could not determine which studio these two fairy tale characters, Snow White (5.5″ high) and Rose Red (7.5″ high),were made for; I suspect these are either Hutschenreuther or Royal Doulton.
Lillian Russell is almost 16” tall and appears from this photo to be bisque porcelain. Branding unknown.
Mrs. Valenza’s website listed the following companies under ‘Commissions’ (i.e., freelance work): Cybis, Hutschenreuther, Lenox, Gorham, Royal Doulton, Lance, Anne Perenna, and Perennis.
The Dolores Valenza Studio
Mrs. Valenza’s work ranged from oil and watercolor to porcelain, bronze, and precious metals. Here are some examples from her own studio.
Tired Toes, a handmade porcelain approximately 6” x 4” x 4”.
The Boy with Mask is seven inches high.
This series of four international children is meticulously marked. Each was an edition of 800, dated 1981, and is about 10” high. From left to right, they are Wilhelmina, Tanya, Lisa and Ruta.
This version has no base because they are meant to hang on a wall via the holes in the back of each head. Each figure has an accompanying small hanging porcelain ‘cameo’ style medallion.
Each design also had a corresponding dimensional plate, 4.25” inches in diameter, in an edition of 2000 of each design. The Wilhelmina plate is shown here in two colorways.
This untitled painting in acrylic(?) is 20” x 23” and signed in the lower left corner.
The 1979 lithograph June Bug is 20” square and clearly based on the painting. The script surrounding the vignette says
by Dolores Valenza Take care when you walk in the garden, all is not what it may seem to be – someday you may see midst the blossoms a wonder as lovely as she.
This small print (8.25” x 6”) was part of an edition of 398
The following examples are from the website http://www.doloresvalenza.com
Somewhere is a very large (84” x 32”) oil on canvas.
The 30” x 40” 13 Hummingbirds is an avian ‘Where’s Waldo?’!
The Wood Nymph oil on canvas would have made a lovely collector plate.
Oil study of London Pride with Pansies. ‘London pride’ is a colloquial name for the perennial Saxifraga x urbium, which is evergreen and produces long airy stems of tiny pink flowers.
Trees, medium unknown (acrylic?).
Icon incorporates egg tempera, gouache, and watercolor.
More examples of Dolores Valenza paintings can be found starting on this page.
The Ukrainian Wedding Dance is a 15.5” x 12” bronze on a faux marble base.
Joseph with a Victrola, in lost-wax bronze, 7” high.
Pierrot in porcelain and in bronze.
Teaching Madonna in terracotta.
A selection of jewelry, clockwise from upper left: An 18k gold branch-form brooch with diamond ‘buds’; Dancer With Tambourine brooch in sterling; Madonna With Child sterling pendant and chain; Baby Bracelet design of hearts within a heart, cast in sterling silver.
Anna Pavlova is a pendant/brooch cast in sterling silver.
Although the artist’s website has not been updated since 2012, it is well worth a visit to read her history and see even more examples of her work. An extensive 2004 interview with Dolores by metalsmith Rocio Heredia can be found here.
I attempted to contact Mrs. Valenza through her website several years ago (pre-pandemic) but received no reply. It is possible, considering the mid-1970s timeframe of her designs for Cybis, that she has passed away. Efforts to contact her son were unsuccessful. If I am ever able to discover the names of the other ten Cybis sculptures that were created by Dolores Valenza, this post will be edited to add that information.
Name Index of Cybis Sculptures
Visual Index (for human figures/busts only)
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