DOI issue:
No. 161 (August, 1906)
DOI article:Levetus, A. S.: Modern Viennese toys
DOI Page / Citation link: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.20715#0235
Modern Viennese Toys
FIG. I. WAGON AND HORSES BY FRAULEIN VON UCHATIUS
like other functions. The Ministry of Fine Arts
and Education has long projected such a reform
by sending the designers themselves to the “ Fach-
schulen,” or craft schools, to give instruction in
new methods, but the machinery of Government
necessarily moves slowly. Here, then, there is
certainly an opening for the enterprising business
man. It is not surprising that several students of
the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Art)
and the Malschule fiir Frauen und Madchen
(Painting School for Females) have turned their
attention to this class of work. It is, indeed,
essentially suited to women, for they better under-
stand child nature than men ; they are nearer to
them in thought, and sympathise with them in a
way that men rarely do. I do not, of course, mean
to imply by this that men have no close touch with
children. Indeed, Professor Moser, Ferdinand
Andri, Friedrich Konig and other designers have
done much in inventing and designing new toys ;
but one who does not understand children could
hardly turn his thoughts in the direction of
toy-making and the invading of the children’s
domain.
Now Fraulein von Uchatius had long thought of
finding out something new in toys before chance led
her to put the idea into practice, for one cannot
live in ideals. It is not surprising that the initia-
tive came from Nuremberg; the School of Applied
Art in this ancient and enterprising city, which
has long been renowned as
the capital of toyland in
Bavaria, offered a prize for
a modern Noah’s Ark. She
ventured and won, and so
the first step was made.
Fraulein von Uchatius has
always been a great lover
of animals, especially
horses; she used to play
with them, and observe
their habits, in fact, grew
up with them, for she spent
her childhood in the coun-
try, and animals were to her
what dolls are to the town-
bred child. She came to
Vienna, became a student
at the Imperial Kunst-
gewerbeschule and the
y
FIG. 2. TOYS BY FERDINAND ANDRI
FIG. I. WAGON AND HORSES BY FRAULEIN VON UCHATIUS
like other functions. The Ministry of Fine Arts
and Education has long projected such a reform
by sending the designers themselves to the “ Fach-
schulen,” or craft schools, to give instruction in
new methods, but the machinery of Government
necessarily moves slowly. Here, then, there is
certainly an opening for the enterprising business
man. It is not surprising that several students of
the Kunstgewerbeschule (School of Applied Art)
and the Malschule fiir Frauen und Madchen
(Painting School for Females) have turned their
attention to this class of work. It is, indeed,
essentially suited to women, for they better under-
stand child nature than men ; they are nearer to
them in thought, and sympathise with them in a
way that men rarely do. I do not, of course, mean
to imply by this that men have no close touch with
children. Indeed, Professor Moser, Ferdinand
Andri, Friedrich Konig and other designers have
done much in inventing and designing new toys ;
but one who does not understand children could
hardly turn his thoughts in the direction of
toy-making and the invading of the children’s
domain.
Now Fraulein von Uchatius had long thought of
finding out something new in toys before chance led
her to put the idea into practice, for one cannot
live in ideals. It is not surprising that the initia-
tive came from Nuremberg; the School of Applied
Art in this ancient and enterprising city, which
has long been renowned as
the capital of toyland in
Bavaria, offered a prize for
a modern Noah’s Ark. She
ventured and won, and so
the first step was made.
Fraulein von Uchatius has
always been a great lover
of animals, especially
horses; she used to play
with them, and observe
their habits, in fact, grew
up with them, for she spent
her childhood in the coun-
try, and animals were to her
what dolls are to the town-
bred child. She came to
Vienna, became a student
at the Imperial Kunst-
gewerbeschule and the
y
FIG. 2. TOYS BY FERDINAND ANDRI