Quotes

The Berkshire Eagle

Stephany L. Johnson: While their materials are recognizable, there is a sense of mystery about the dolls.
They are jarring, often amusing, gay, witty, evil – the stuff of nightmares and dreams seen in daylight.

Arthur Myers:  “Strange and powerful statues”  Irena sees the humor in her creations, but perhaps most viewers will see power and strangeness, coming out of her German heritage.

Winifred Bell: These life size figures are a composite of the beginnings of many cultural periods. 

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The New York Times

John Canaday: Very definitely worth a closer look

The dolls are distinctive for their strong faces.

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McCall’s 

Lenore Hershey: Elegantly ugly grotesques 

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New York Herald Tribune

John Gruen:  A strange”Balthusian” aura-pointing to an imagination as florid as it is fertile.

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Look Magazine

Irena Martens made the distorted figure appealing by perching a bird on her bald head. 

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Harper’s Bazaar

Geri Trotta:  Definitely not for Children

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Art News

Elegantly savage dolls are made with inventive and cunning eye.

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Home Furnishings Daily

A strong element of horror in the collage figures by a blong lovely young German artist.

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House & Garden

Dolls existed long before the first child was given one as a toy.

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Newsday

Jan Tyler: Her strange humanoid form are standouts even in traditional settings.

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Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

Fritz Neugass: 3 Dimensionale Graffiti

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Guggenheim Museum

Everett Ellin: In my opinion she is a professional artist of considerable merit.

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Museum of Contemporary Crafts

Thomas Kyle: The work was so unusual, so much of a unique talent, that I immediatly proposed an exhibition here in our museum. 

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Roberto Crippa: Her surreal world of dreams and escape.

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Book: “Paper Trail”

by Richard Howard

Irena Martens Begins her work what was once regarded as the death of the doll (time to buy a new doll) is now tobe seen it’s beginning. As soon asit can accommodate evil (time, change, others) the toy becomes art.

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