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Dark Toys: Surrealism and the Culture of Childhood
A wide-ranging look at surrealist and postsurrealist engagements with the culture and imagery of childhood
We all have memories of the object-world of childhood. For many of us, playthings and images from those days continue to resonate. Rereading a swathe of modern and contemporary artistic production through the lens of its engagement with childhood, this book blends in-depth art historical analysis with sustained theoretical exploration of topics such as surrealist temporality, toys, play, nostalgia, memory, and twentieth-century constructions of the child. The result is an entirely new approach to the surrealist tradition via its engagement with “childish things.” Providing what the author describes as a “long history of surrealism,” this book plots a trajectory from surrealism itself to the art of the 1980s and 1990s, through to the present day. It addresses a range of figures from Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, Joseph Cornell, and Helen Levitt, at one end of the spectrum, to Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Paolozzi, Claes Oldenburg, Susan Hiller, Martin Sharp, Helen Chadwick, Mike Kelley, and Jeff Koons, at the other.
We all have memories of the object-world of childhood. For many of us, playthings and images from those days continue to resonate. Rereading a swathe of modern and contemporary artistic production through the lens of its engagement with childhood, this book blends in-depth art historical analysis with sustained theoretical exploration of topics such as surrealist temporality, toys, play, nostalgia, memory, and twentieth-century constructions of the child. The result is an entirely new approach to the surrealist tradition via its engagement with “childish things.” Providing what the author describes as a “long history of surrealism,” this book plots a trajectory from surrealism itself to the art of the 1980s and 1990s, through to the present day. It addresses a range of figures from Marcel Duchamp, Giorgio de Chirico, Max Ernst, Hans Bellmer, Joseph Cornell, and Helen Levitt, at one end of the spectrum, to Louise Bourgeois, Eduardo Paolozzi, Claes Oldenburg, Susan Hiller, Martin Sharp, Helen Chadwick, Mike Kelley, and Jeff Koons, at the other.
- GenresArt History
352 pages, Hardcover
Published March 23, 2021
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
David Hopkins
117 books95 followersGet your FREE War of the Hounds ebook—a novella set in the world of the Dryad's Crown.
David Hopkins is a fantasy novelist with an interest in Shakespeare, medieval history, fairy tales, and myth. He is the author of The Dryad’s Crown, a story set in the vast world of Efre Ousel. BookLife described The Dryad's Crown as "a welcome, inventive, humane fantasy, set at the scale of a single fascinating life."
His work also includes the novel Wear Chainmail to the Apocalypse, the short story collection We Miss All the Great Parties and the burlesque memoir The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True.
David has been a regular contributor to D Magazine, Smart Pop Books, and Fanboy Radio. He has written op-eds for the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Tribune, comic books and graphic novels in a variety of genres, and even a few D&D adventures.
David is married to artist and designer, April Hopkins. He has two daughters, Kennedy and Greta, and a dog named Moose.
David Hopkins is a fantasy novelist with an interest in Shakespeare, medieval history, fairy tales, and myth. He is the author of The Dryad’s Crown, a story set in the vast world of Efre Ousel. BookLife described The Dryad's Crown as "a welcome, inventive, humane fantasy, set at the scale of a single fascinating life."
His work also includes the novel Wear Chainmail to the Apocalypse, the short story collection We Miss All the Great Parties and the burlesque memoir The Wild and Wayward Tales of Tammi True.
David has been a regular contributor to D Magazine, Smart Pop Books, and Fanboy Radio. He has written op-eds for the Dallas Morning News and Chicago Tribune, comic books and graphic novels in a variety of genres, and even a few D&D adventures.
David is married to artist and designer, April Hopkins. He has two daughters, Kennedy and Greta, and a dog named Moose.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 8, 2025
The first four chapters were informative but after that I didn't see much value in the book for my purposes. It would be good to review those first chapters when I am ready to do some serious research on surrealism.
Displaying 1 of 1 review