City-Planning Toy (prototype)

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City-Planning Toy (prototype)

circa 1965
Sculpture
Painted wood, canvas
Mat: 24 × 24 in. (60.96 × 60.96 cm) Weight (Toys): 3 lb. (1.4 kg)
Gift of Gere Kavanaugh (M.2012.146.1-.22)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

In 1966 Progressive Architecture magazine argued that the point of giving a child modern toys was not “whether she will grow up to like ‘modern’ architecture, but whether she will be pleased by matter...
In 1966 Progressive Architecture magazine argued that the point of giving a child modern toys was not “whether she will grow up to like ‘modern’ architecture, but whether she will be pleased by matters of form, relationship, integrity.” Among the examples illustrated were Gere Kavanaugh’s specially commissioned wooden blocks, whose abstract forms allowed children to imagine a limitless range of city plans.

(California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way," 2011-12)
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Bibliography

  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. California Design, 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way. Los Angeles: Los  Angeles County Museum of Art; Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2011.
  • Kaplan, Wendy, ed. Living in a Modern Way: California Design, 1930-1965.  Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2013. 

Exhibition history

  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Los Angeles, CA, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October 1, 2011 - June 3, 2012
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Tokyo, Japan, The National Art Center, Tokyo, March 20, 2013 - June 3, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Auckland, New Zealand, Auckland Art Gallery, July 6, 2013 - September 29, 2013
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" South Brisbane, Australia, Queensland Art Gallery, November 2, 2013 - February 9, 2014
  • California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" Salem, MA, Peabody Essex Museum, March 29, 2014 - July 6, 2014
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