Century of the Child

From now until November 5, 2012 MoMA is showing an exhibition titled Century of the Child. 

The exhibition traces the history of children from around the world through the toys they play with and the items they interact with on a regular basis. 

The show features the years from 1900 to 2000. 

The exhibit is broken up into seven sections and each decade has its own title and theme. 

1900's-1910's theme is: New Century, New Child, New Art

Froebel Gift 2

C. 1890

1910's-1920's: Avant-Garde Playtime

Child's Wheelbarrow

1923

Gerrit Rietveld (same guy who designed Red Blue Chair) 

1920's-1930's: Light, Air, Health

Children During a Light-Therapy Session

1937

1920's-1940's: Children and the Body Politic

SAKAMPF Board Game

1933

1940's-1960's: Regeneration

Rooftop Kindergarten 

1947-52

Le Corbusier and Blanche Lemco Van Ginkel 

1960's-1990's: Power Play

Holdraketa and Original Box

c. 1960

1960's-2000's: Designing Better Worlds

School in a Box

1994

UNICEF

The exhibition site looks amazing on its own. 

This is one exhibition catalog I MUST order. 

- Grace

Artwork of the Week: Marilyn Monroe The Last Sitting

Bert Stern photographed Marilyn Monroe in a series he later called The Last Sitting that took place six weeks before she passed away on August 5, 1962. This has always been one of my favorite images of her. Stern took over 2,500 photographs during their 3 day shoot for Vogue magazine and several were published in the September issue the day after the actress was found dead. 

Marilyn was 36 when she died. 

- Cathleen 

Recovered!

Recovered!

Electrical Cord by Roy Lichtenstein has been missing since 1970. It was just found when it landed in the hands of art dealer James Goodman who called the Lichtenstein Foundation to authenticate it. 

Apparently the piece had been in a storage facility on the Upper East Side. 

Read more about the finding here. 

Amazing! 

- Grace

Marshmallow Mounds

Spotted on our drive upstate this weekend: one giant marshmallow mountain! 

OK, it was actually shrink-wrapped bales of hay, but a girl can dream, can't she?

I suppose I've just got Stay Puft on the brain. 

Happy Mounday, everyone!

- Cathleen

Anatomy of an 80s Icon

Anatomy of the Gremlin Print by Brad McGinty, $25 on BigCartel

Shout out to Emily Condon for calling this one to Micky's attention! McGinty also has some great Mogwai and Alien illustrations on his website. Just don't try to feed them after midnight. 

Anatomical Stay Puft Marshmallow Man by Jason Freeny 

via www.moistproduction.com

This little guy made the virtual rounds awhile back, but who you gonna call?? OK, you should probably call the Lamebusters for that joke. And that one too.

 Garbage Pail Kids, Unzipped Zack via xyz

The Garbage Pail Kids Movie circa 1987 is the only movie ever made that was based on trading cards and is already being considered for inclusion in this year's Halloween Horrorfest. Featuring a full range of totally 80s elements, from oozing green slime to a girl named Tangerine and a rock concert fashion show where the kids all band together to save the day, I'm sure it will definitely hold up.

- Cathleen 

Barnett Newman's Stations of the Cross

The National Gallery of Art in D.C. has an amazing collection of works by Barnett Newman. 

My favorite works by Newman that the museum has are his Stations of the Cross. 

The first Station of the Cross is Jesus is Condemned to Death. 

Here's Newman's first station:

First Station

1958

Here's the third station:

Jesus Falls the First Time

Third Station

1960

Skipping ahead is Jesus Dies on the Cross: 

Twelfth Station

1965

Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross: 

Thirteenth Station

1965/66

And finally, the fourteenth station, Jesus is Laid in the Tomb:

Fourteenth Station

1965/66

I appreciate the length of time Newman spent creating this series. I'd like to know the circumstances that caused Newman to take such a long time to make this moving collection.

Photographs of this collection don't do it justice. It has it's own large room at the NGA and the works are very large, measuring 78" x 59 15/16".

These works also capture the beauty of abstract art. Instead of meticulously painting out every scene from the Stations of the Cross, Newman has chosen to paint the abstract feelings of each scene. Since the Stations of the Cross are emotional, Newman has chosen to illustrate this feeling rather than the scenes themselves. 

View more of the Stations here. 

- Grace

Happy Anniversary!

Today marks the first anniversary of Swings & Arrows! And since the traditional first anniversary gift is paper, and the modern gift is clocks, what could be a more perfect marriage of the two than a beautiful paper cuckoo clock from hellopetie on Etsy? 

We thought that in honor of our first year in existence we'd also launch a new look for the blog today. Let us know what you think! 

Grace and I want to thank you all so much for making this such a successful first year at Swings & Arrows. We appreciate your readership and feedback more than you'll ever know—so keep coming by for a look-see and keep commenting—and we'll keep working hard to bring you beautiful things to brighten your days. 

Love, 

Cathleen & Grace