Century of the Child: Growing by Design, 1900–2000. The Museum Of Modern Art

I really enjoyed this exhibition and seeing it at a member’s only showing without the hoards helped. But that being said I do have my reservations. This being a typical Moma “historical” show it looks great as it sprawls its way through those large galleries on the 6^th floor. The exhibit documents how children around the world played and learned from 1900 to 2000. However this being the Museum Of Modern Art the work is geared to modernism and “good” design, so I found it to be somewhat narrow and elitist in its approach and curatorial decisions. Don’t get me wrong I love Lyonel Feininger’s wooden toys as much as the next artist, and there are many beautiful examples of other toys, books, furniture and games by other artists, architects and designers but it helps if one keeps in mind that this is a show for MOMA’s kinder and not for mommy’s kids. So everything in the show is beautiful and well designed, after all we know that children only like beautiful and well-designed toys. There is a nod to the commercial toy which includes colorforms (loved those colorforms as a kid), Etch A Sketch (loved my Etch A Sketch, but its too much in the news these days), Lego and slinky but not a can of Play Doh is to be found, nor are marbles, pick up sticks, Jacks or any toy that one could have purchased at a Woolworth’s. Most of the toys and games look like they were expensive even when new, and now they look like the toys that sometimes turn up on Antiques Road show, you know those great tin cars in their original boxes which is also represented in the show. But where are the Lionel Train sets, the Lincoln Logs (the only building block set that turns up is of course very Bauhausy even though it’s from the 1950’s)  or a View Master (would it have killed them to include a View Master?), and not one doll. The Moma’s idea of a doll is some of Sophie Taeuber-Arp’s wonderful puppets. There is not one toy from the Disney Empire, in fact there are no movie or TV tie-in games at all. There is not a ball, or a cheap beach toy either; in fact games and toys of the streets are completely left out. Like many of these historical shows, by the time you get to the final galleries, it’s a big downer, I mean why would the curators devoted an entire wall pasted with pages from The Whole Earth Catalog along with a poster of the Mai Lai massacre. Is this to point out and educate us that our childhoods came to an end with the 60’s? How many small kids are going to have nightmares after viewing that shocking poster, one woman standing next to me looked visibly upset and ironically it’s the one image from this exhibition on childhood that stays with me, its the image that I took home with me. Sure there are other political images and objects throughout the show. There are some charming Nazi and Italian Fascist board games (in mint condition I might add), that made me a little queasy and uncomfortable, but the Moma’s nod to the holocaust and its children is faint and is pretty much inconsequential consisting of a propaganda film that the Nazi’s produced to show the world how marvelous the concentration camp at Terezin was. There are no coloring books nor paper dolls and no Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head, now that omission really upset me. There are also toys of the space age, and stuff from Pee-Wee’s Playhouse but the newest toys and games look so uninviting to me, that I thought to myself what kid would want to play with them, I certainly wouldn’t and do we really need a wall featuring a boring photograph by Andreas Gurksy of an ugly suburban Toy’s “R” Us, oh wait of course its in their collection. Also when you exit through the gift shop you will be able to pick up nice reproductions of some of the toys and books featured in the exhibition   which makes me wonder what came first the chicken or the exhibition.