Through the ages, dolls are primarily thought of as playthings for children. Dolls have been used by adults too for a variety of uses: religious; fashion; to invoke goddess favours (fertility); comfort; injury (voodoo); story telling; and teaching. These are just a few examples of how dolls have aided and been used by adults. As these charming pictures show, dolls were also used as a prop:
Dolls were also used (and still are) in entertainment, ie. the puppet or ventriloquist dummy.
One of a kind dolls are collected and treasured today by adults as pieces of art. There are many artists in the past who created beautiful dolls, however the majority were designed for children. There were some artists in the past century that created dolls solely for adults. 
Perhaps one of the most famous was Hans Bellmer . His surrealistic dolls are compelling, wonderful and in some cases frightening.
Salvador Dali famous for his surrealistic paintings also liked to occasionally dapple in figurative work. Below is a pic of Dali with one of his mannequins in 1933.
Another artist of the past, Hannah Hoch was a member of the German Dada movement and was known for her fabulous montage work. She also created some artist dolls. The pic below is of Hannah and one of her dolls from 1925.
The history of dolls and art dolls is fascinating and there is a wealth of information on the internet. Spend some time on Google and you will be fascinated and then search and check out some of the phenomenal doll artists of today.
