Photos below: Tanya Wolf Ragir.
Photos courtesy of Tanya Wolf Ragir.

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Tanya Wolf Ragir was the subject of my first video piece. A native of Los Angeles, Tanya is a figurative sculptor involved in realms of fine art and commercial art. She has sculpted display mannequins for Patina V, from live models.

Viewing her website www.tanyaragir.com, one can see how her personal art differs from the mannequin figures at www.patinav.com and yet there is a relationship as Tanya brings knowledge of anatomy to both her fine art and commercial sculpting.

In Tanya’s fine art she often reinterprets the human body as though it is a sensual three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Tanya exudes a warmth and energy which is key to her relationship with her models.

Tanya’s mannequin of Kim Cattrall, is in the Mannequin Museum collection. Donated by Fox, Inc., the figure was sculpted for the movie “Mannequin” (1987). Cattrall is most recently recognized for her character in the television series “Sex and the City.”

Tanya’s commercial work is seen in thousands of stores. Her fine art has been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibits and is held in public and private collections.

Her ongoing exhibitions are at Fresh Paint Art Advisors of Culver City (freshpaintart) and Bakersfield Museum of Art (www.bmoa.org)

Tanya’s grandfather Maury Wolf and David Vine founded the Los Angeles firm Wolf & Vine. They developed the first plastic mannequin, which turned into a financial fiasco because the flesh colored paint had an adverse chemical reaction with the plastic when it was put into the sunlit display windows, turning unceremoniously green.

They lost $100,000 in that bid for technological advancement in the mid 1940s. Going through old display magazines at the downtown Los Angeles library I found an advertisement for Wolf & Vine’s first plastic mannequin.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Mr. Wolf after his retirement on his boat in Marina del Rey California. He and his partner persevered and eventually did develop a viable fiber-glass mannequin.

The company became Wolf & Vine/Greneker and is now known as Greneker ( www.Greneker.com ).

The Mannequin Museum archives include historical catalogs from these two companies as well as the personal archives of Lillian L. Greneker.

Walter Alford a publicist and personal friend of Lillian Greneker donated her papers and photos related to mannequins. Her papers relating to her inventions and other businesses are retained at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study in the Schlesinger Library, a library with extensive holdings regarding the History of Women.

Radcliffe is a college of Harvard University. (www.radcliffe.com)

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