Des jouets et des hommes

This site has all the press kit that I had the enormous privilege of receiving for the occasion of this very important and rare event. The visuals are high quality for which a site like Poupendol is important, but the content and presentation of this exhibition of 38 pages, no less, shows the important work has been done for the occasion by its unpublished scope, its subject matter from ancient times to today. A very large catalog you will not fail to acquire some during your visit will tell you more and better than I can do. It is truly an event to be recommended !
 Go ahead and of course let your curiosity and ingenuity to power! They will do wonders!

3 Avenue du Général Eisenhower Paris 8°
Métro Champs-Elysées - Clemenceau, RER C Invalides

This exhibition, the first devoted to the story of toys from antiquity to the present day, includes magnificent achievements (princely toys, custom cars, luxury doll houses) as smaller objects (figurines, rattles, etc.).
Pierrick Sorin, video artist known for his comic creations achieved is an inventive stage design with entertainment features and facilities that encourage interaction and delight the imagination.
In an amazing blend of tradition and innovation, nearly a thousand toys, mostly Western and Japanese are exposed. In a society with respect to the object and its ownership is almost as important as the relationship with people, all these toys invite the public to a journey into the heart of intimacy. Thousand toys from antiquity to the present, in this exhibition.
This is an exceptional collection and totally unprecedented in its scale and ambition: antique dolls, dolls princely dolls of our time, trains, planes, boats, bears of all kinds, almost living machines, video games warriors, figurines made of lead or plastic saucers, Noah's arks and even a Santa Claus on a plane!

Animaux de la ferme
 
Créateur : Benjamin Rabier   Fabricants : Passerat et Radiguet     Bois découpé peint   H. de 11 à 24 cm ; L. de 9 à 24 cm ; l. de 2 à 4 cm
  Vers 1910   Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris    © Michel Pintado pour les Arts décoratifs, Paris

In collaboration with the  Musee des Arts Decoratifs (Museum of Decorative Arts), which houses one of the largest collections of toys in Europe, other French and international cultural institutions including the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Toy Museum in Nuremberg or in the Strong Rochester USA), and many European private collections brought together many objects.

They are mass-produced or well-known artists like Alexander Calder, Felix Garcia Torres and Benjamin Rabier, whether exceptional or washed up on the carpet for children's rooms, these toys tell us about the world, its evolution, its history, often shifted or mimicry confusing. A large and varied illustrations - paintings, posters, sculptures, films, video games, music videos, catalogs Christmas bonus - the full panorama.

Antique dolls, dolls princes, trains, planes, boats, bears of all kinds, almost living machines, video games warriors, figurines made of lead or plastic saucers, Noah's Ark: a thousand toys including Western, exceptional or common, are gathered here to tell a story of more than two thousand years, made up of wonder and nostalgia, but also lessons and questions.

The Illusion of Life: automata, mechanical toys, robots

 In the late nineteenth century reveal a multitude of animated toys cheap. All the universes are then broken down: the circus, crafts, animals, music, means of locomotion. The manufacturers are primarily French and German: Fernand Martin, Charles Rossignol, Ernst Paul Lehmann, and U.S. in the 1930s, with manufacturers or Wolverine Louis Marx. The 1950s are those of science fiction and the emergence of Japanese robots. In the 1970s, the computer overrides almost robot. Robosapien, created in 2004 by physicist Mark Tilden WowWee for the brand, could herald a long series of intelligent creatures that will give us even more the illusion of life.

War
Should we do away with war toys? This question arises only recently. From antiquity to the present, they existed. Long, and from an early age, nobles and princes were trained in the art of war. In the simulation war, the key is the contrast between two camps. Antagonisms of war games based on evolving long history. This is evident in Europe with the conflict between French and Prussians in 1870, then with the Great War and World War II. Finally, the American GI Joe action figure, Hasbro created by the company in 1964, is the most famous representation. If the toy soldier is now a subject of controversy, one can also think, with Umberto Eco, it is a necessary outlet : playing war,
"You free yourself from your cravings, to suppress all you in you, and you will be ready to receive other messages, which have the purpose or death or destruction. "( Letter to my son in Pastiches and Postiches).

Automate du Père Noël en avion
 
Fabricant : Roullet-Decamps
Automate électrique
1925
 
Bois, métal, textile, fourrure 
H. 125 ; L. 260 ; l. env. 273 cm 
 
Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris
 
© Jean Tholance pour les Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Thoughts and proposals

For scenography Pierrick Sorin, artistic director.

The toy is first and foremost fun. Visual pleasure, first, closely tied to a representation of reality shifted where miniaturization is authoritative. Pleasure of touch, sometimes hearing. Pleasure of handling constructive or destructive actions. Pleased to sudden movements, sensual, controlled, repetitive ... In an exhibition on the toy, it is expected, among other things, it reflects a little bit these pleasures manifold. But it's not that simple. Operating constraints of an exhibition, concern for the protection, conservation of objects, which often induce limits contradict fun. Despite these limitations, breathe in the exhibition of the movement, creating moments of fun, lively and fun moments, those are my main objectives. As an artist-filmmaker is of course to solutions or "inventions" based on the use of moving images that I will turn. Of course, the use of turning on the window of a vast majority of objects is inevitable. Therefore, "do with" the body of the window, work on form for an accomplice of some constructions fun is what appears to be "the" solution. My experience in sets of mirrors (optical theaters) married also pretty good with this kind of achievement which will be referred here to as "windows animated."