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Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were initially conceived as comic strip characters by artist and writer Rose O'Neill. The illustrated cartoons, appearing as baby cupid characters, began to gain popularity after the publication of O'Neill's comic strips in 1909, and O'Neill began to illustrate and sell paper doll versions of the ''Kewpies''. The characters were first produced as bisque dolls in Waltershausen, Germany beginning in 1912, and became extremely popular in the early twentieth century. The ''Kewpie'' dolls were initially made out of bisque exclusively, but composition versions were introduced in the 1920s and celluloid versions were manufactured in the following decades. In 1949, Effanbee created the first hard plastic versions of the dolls, and soft rubber and vinyl versions were produced by Cameo Co. and Jesco between the 1960s and 1990s. The earlier bisque and composition versions of ''Kewpie'' dolls are widely sought-after by antique and doll collectors, who especially want those hand-signed by O'Neill. Kewpies should not be confused with the baby-like Billiken figures that debuted in 1908.〔 ==Background and history== Rose O'Neill, a Midwest native who had worked as a writer and illustrator in New York City, initially conceptualized the ''Kewpie'' as a cartoon intended for a comic strip in 1909. According to O'Neill, the idea for the ''Kewpies'' came to her in a dream.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=MIT )〕 The comic, featuring the cherub-faced characters, was first printed in ''Ladies' Home Journal'' in the December 1909 issue.〔(【引用サイトリンク】work=The State Historical Society of Missouri )〕 O'Neill described the characters as "a sort of little round fairy whose one idea is to teach people to be merry and kind at the same time."〔 Their name, often shortened to ''Kewpies'', derives from "cupid", the Roman god of erotic love.〔(V & A Museum of Childhood )〕 After the characters gained popularity among both adults and children, O'Neill began illustrating paper dolls of them, called ''Kewpie Kutouts''. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Kewpie」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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