The Washington herald., 1907-03-03
NEW MOVE IN TOY MAKING
Artists and Philosophers Evolve
Some New Ideas for Amusement of
the YOung-What Is Essential to "a
Child's TOy-OnIy "a symbol which
Imagination Clothes with Reality

/ ing would at least be large; but when
the work of the scores of toy factories
was brought together, novel world of
artistic interest was revealed.
In and about Dresden, where thousands
/ of operators do nothing but make toys all
the year round, toy is taken seriously.
| according to the Boston Herald. Design
/ ing them to begin with, occupies the
serious attention of famous artists. Men
and women of rare artistic attainments
4 become known for successful series of
playthings devised in studios fitted for
the purpose as carefully as in other lines
Of effort. and laboratories are fitted up
for chemists and metallurgists. Even
back of them work grave professors Of
! psychology. formulating laws of childish
mentality so that the toy shall suit the
child.
/ What will do for q youngster of three
will not do for one Of twelve years; a
truism it may appear, but one often
lost sight of-outside Of Dresden. Here
is what Max Brethfeld. Dresden toy ex-
pert. says. I'm part, on this phase OF the
matter: "The new movement in the mod
cling Of toys is a revolt against the nat
uralism Of former times, when attempts
were made TO reproduce the minute ind.-
vidual features of objects selected for
/ models The reform movement has had
/ its opponents, who insisted that the ar
lists Gin tOys) caricatured things and
produced piaythings that even the child
of the savage would not recognize.
Toy Only Symbol.
ct IS well known that the child looks
on Il toy as a symbol only, which his
fancy easily clothes with a sort Of reality,
/ sufficient for the play hour at least There
need not be, therefore, and. from an edu-
/ cational point Of view, there should not
/ be- any serious attempt at deception.
! Children, particularly the youngest, do
/ not note peCuiiarities Their view is for
/ the general the ensemble for the typi-l
cal The sense Of form is so undeveloped
/ that individual peculiarJies need only be
given in the most superficial and general
/ lied manner. This Is where naturalism
/ fails altogether in the philcsophic treat
ment OF toys
/ After that. it IS no wonder that the
/ toy boxes OF the world are labeled Made
! in Germany.
} As applied 10 actual toys. the "menag-
/ erie series. designed by Rudolph Dorste-
witt. is readily understood. a great va
riety Of animals have been modelled, cheap
enough individually, but costing too much
for the average bog all at once Here
/ is where the artist puts on a thinking
( cap. Why not make the animals durable.
so that q boy can get q few only this
/ Christmas. q few more on his birthday,
and in long series of the recurring child
7 Ish feast days accumulate a respectable
/ circus2
/ The elephant VIII serve as an example
/ OF the method. The solid, immovable look
/ Of the animal, the general relative pro-
portions of the head. trunk. and legs, the
/ carriage OF the body, are all "gaught," /
I but no more. There is no attempt 10
/ show texture Of the skin, bend or curling
/ OF the proboscis, nails on the feet. &c.
I The hippopotamus also, once seen In NIL
I ture is recognized a mile off by nearly
/ any one, but comparatively few people
can adequately describe one. Only the
I general features are impressed on the
eye of even the adult; the blocklike body,
[ the peculiar head. the upward curve OF
the mouth. These are the only things
that any child viii ever notice. say the
German psychologists, and give him those
! and his fancy viii endow the toy con-
veyiHg the hint with all the necessary at /
tributes Of life in toyland
For Older Children.
The youngster Of twelve requires some
thing more complex. but not less gener-
allied. Merely TO have things and throw
them around is not enough. The Dresden
toy artist thereuD0n designs parts OF
/ houses to be put together and make "A
museum for the menagerie accumulated
IN the unsophisticateG years Of childhood.
Or leaving the menagerie out of view.
/ Theodore Muller. of Dresden. models
parts OF an old German city. There are
walls. roofs. pOrches. trees, fences, DC. /
from which not one particular city, but
/ several cities, can be designed by tho boy
More properly, with a full set of these
/ things several children can be kept
amused ali at once each on his or her
own city. The further educational uses
OF these toys for children of rather add
vanced years, in teaching municipal Eeog-
| raphy by modelling the home city or
town, are obvious, or, at least. are never
lost sight Of by the Dresdeners.
The moving" toys are modelled on the
same principle. The horses legs, for cx-
ample are hinged. so that he can be
placed standing, running, trotting, jump
ing, &c, but the general character Of the
toy horses makeup is kept fairly in ae-
cordance with nature. The right propoT-
tIons Of head TO trunk. to length Of legs, /
and in these latter the places of the
out but there the artist stops IN repro
ducing the horse. The legs, for example. /
are left square for that is detail that
does not impair the general look" of a
horse
The swan and her brood look "swanny,'
even IL the critical eye sees the obvious
corners and edges of the wood, to say
nothing of the wheels on which their
swauships swim" across the smooth and
dry surface of the table or floor. There
is no need to work on the feathers or pro- |
vide feet, for they are the uncssentiall
features totally ignored by young per-
sons in their observations of swans.
Useful PIaythinES.
A field of toy-making not at all obvious
at first sight as a toy is the modelling Of
various useful domestic apparatus in the
form of toys The nut cracker" is
jovial, though somewhat tTuculent looking
soul, made of stout iron BY putting a
nut between his teeth and bearing
down, using his preposterous nose for a
lever. the aim of the nut crackers genius
is attained. The field open here for inge-
nuity Is limiuess, as is the cost of the
toys which may become pieces OF real
bric-a-brac in design and material The
toy makers go more into cOmical figures. |
German fairy lore abounds in susges-
tions Tor the artist. for fanciful person /
ages who can be made to hold down pa
per on a desk, support penholders. guard |
childish savings banks. and the like. This /
sort of traditional history. moreover. is !