I started this piece with the intention of talking about Tenggren's toy paintings and I somehow digressed into a rant about Legos. I really should have split the piece into two separate articles, but I'm too sleepy to do a rewrite now. I hope you'll forgive me for allowing the post to remain the rambling platypus that it is.
So...about Tenggren...he painted the beautiful picture above from "Pinocchio." I'm guessing that he, or a layout man, referenced toy sketches by Horvath. Anyway, whoever designed them would have had a great run as a toy designer in the 19th century. They're first rate!
I know what you're thinking...that Tenggren's toys were generic for their time (maybe 150 years ago), but were they? For comparison, here's (above) another Pinnochio picture painted by Claude Coates. Take a look at the toys. Now that's generic!
Back to Tenggren again. Most of these toys (above) are designed, they're not generic at all. When you look at it close, even the rocking horse in the foreground seems a little like a caricature of generic toy horses rather than the real thing.
A lot of 19th century toys were sculptural and not very realistic. To us they seem like objects of art more than toys. They were so beautiful that I imagine parents were tempted to hold onto them long after the kids grew up and moved out.
Horvath was a terrific designer of buildings. His version of Stromboli's Puppet Theater would have made a wonderful toy. It still would. If it was available in the toyshops when my kids were young, I'd have bought it for them.
Some of the best toys we have today are by Lego (above). How do you like the Lego pirate ship, "Queen Anne's Revenge?"
Or this Lego castle?
Or the "Imperial Flagship" Above)?
The problem with Lego toys is that they're pricey and are made out of little blocks. Dads probably build the toys then kids take them apart, and once taken apart the essential pieces get lost forever. Another problem is that the big, impressive sets are geared toward older kids, who are no longer the age that plays with toys. These sets are never in sync with the developmental stages of real children.
One more gripe: what's with the cute little human characters? Pirates weren't cute. This is a concession made to hippie parents who foolishly wouldn't otherwise buy war toys for their kids. The little figures are nice and artistic, but they're not useful for kid fantasies. In fact, they were designed with the specific intention of thwarting kids war fantasies. What kind of toy is that?
I still like Legos. The best of them are miniature works of art. I just wish molded plastic pirate ships et al were also available. There aren't many parts to lose in toys made that way, they're more inviting to fantasy, and they can be sold cheaper.
13 comments:
We have loads of lego at home. (its somewhat cheaper in europe I guess)
I don't have to build the lego sets for my sons. They insist on doing it all by themselves. As for losing little parts,that also isnt a big problem. You play with the perfect set for a while and then you alter it and built other stuff around it , made from other older sets. It's a pretty organic way of playing imo. At the end some sets arent even used for what they are ment for originally.
And the Jack Sparrow figurines are very popular (even tho they never saw the movies) , there are even skeletons to fight Jack! YARR!
The eyes on the toys in the top painting remind me of Otto Mesmers style. Love when creativity is put into details like that where you could easily get away with a generic approach. Reminded me of a quote about Jack Kirby that said if you asked a normal artist to draw 50 spaceships you'd get 50 ships in roughly the same style but with Kirby you'd get ships that looked like they were designed and built in 50 different hangers from 50 completely unique alien worlds.
Legos really took off with little girls when they got the idea of Lego sets as kits with a "right way" to assemble it.
Lego sets have really taken off with little girls since they brought out the kits.
My enthusiasm for Legos as a kid was such that my dad saw fit to build an entire table from scratch, just for my tiny blocks. The table was made of wood (untreated... better for drawing on with crayon) and it had a 4-inch deep trench running all along the side. Spare Legos were dumped in the trench, to make it easier to find whatever I needed. Current projects were littered on the table top, below the table, and all over the room. I can probably blame that table for causing me to have a Lego habit well into my teen years.
Thank you for the kind comment on the previous post. I think I just overreacted in a lot of ways to what happened, especially since I was the one who let my work ethic slip, kept procrastinating, not being prepared in the beginning to really pull on the rope, not following your earlier advice well enough on my part, and getting distracted. I guess a lot of seniors especially at my school get like this, even though they usually do well, especially during second semester, because they just want to get high school over with and go to college as soon as they can, so many stop caring. I didn't mean for it to happen, but still, and I've learned my lesson from it. Did you ever go to a college like Cal Arts or Pratt by the way? I was wondering where you got your education from.
Now that it's halfway over, I can finally talk about animation again and move on, which is exactly why I've been such a faithful blog commentator for a year and a half now. These Tengren paintings look absolutely terrific! Reminds me of when I used to play with Legos all the time as a young boy, but was always jealous of those people who could make all those complex structures like those ships out of such small blocks and such.
Excuse the long comments. I'm just too happy right now and have a lot of thoughts going through my head.
Roberto: I don't have an art school degree. I took college art courses, and I taught at Cal Arts for a semester in the 90s (and at another art school), but I never got an art degree. Before the digital era cartooning was something you learned sitting at your kitchen table.
Pappy: An interesting theory about why girls like Leggos now!
Roberto: I don't have an art school degree. I took college art courses, and I taught at Cal Arts for a semester in the 90s (and at another art school), but I never got an art degree. Before the digital era cartooning was something you learned sitting at your kitchen table.
Pappy: An interesting theory about why girls like Leggos now!
I remember legos being perfect for only one short age range when I was a kid. I was old enough to start following complex instructions and young enough that it felt like a real accomplishment to get anything built.
Top picture, John K's Classico music video inspiration = Awesome!
Old toys were works of art. Hand crafted and beautiful.
Do kids even play with toys anymore?
I like it when your posts transgress into other topics. It's charming.
Legos are kind of the Erector Sets of today. I had a small set back in the 50s; I knew that you could build operating windmills and motor-powered factories with them, but that didn't intimidate me. In fact, I never built anything even slightly elaborate. All I recall is being enthralled just bolting various parts together helter-skelter. Perhaps that's a form of creativity, too.
I liked Lego much better in the 60's, back when I was a kid. The blocks were far more generic, allowing you to really use your imagination as to what you wanted to build. Nowadays, all the Lego sets are more like plastic model kits, in that you're really only meant to build the one thing that's pictured on the box, or some slight variation thereof. The only specific pieces that came in the Lego sets of my youth were the little doors and windows, but even if you wanted to utilize those, there was no limit as to what sort of building you could create. As for Lego Pirates and Star Wars figures - BAH!
Lego has definitely lost some of its charm for me, and I'm not even old enough to remember how they were originally.(I'm 23)
All I know is their too commercialized these days, overly detailed. Its at the point where I have to wonder if they'd just be happier making action figures. Their not far from that now that some figs are flesh colored and have articulated knees. Their Woody fig has a custom head and longer legs. Wheres the fun in that? They need to keep the designs more abstract and simplified.
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