The Man Who Made Paper Dolls Cool
Well, this is quite an obituary: ‘Tom Tierney, who quite by accident found fame and fortune dressing — and undressing — notables from George Washington to Greta Garbo to Pope John Paul II, died on July 12 at his home in Smithville, Tex. Mr. Tierney, who almost single-handedly revived the lost art of paper-doll making, was 85…From the mid-1970s until his death, Mr. Tierney reigned as “the undisputed king†of the international paper-doll world, as The New York Times wrote in 1999 — a milieu that comprises thousands of collectors in the United States alone. Over the years, he created more than 400 paper-dolls books, most issued by Dover Publications. “Tom Tierney is probably the largest influence on contemporary paper dolls,†Jenny Taliadoros, the publisher of Paper Studio Press, said in an interview on Thursday. “During the lull in paper-doll production in the 1970s and ’80s, he was the one that brought paper dolls back.‒
