Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at Young V&A
Play Gallery, Moving and Making, Case 3

Radiant Baby

Pull Toy
1988 (designed), 1990s- early 2000s (manufactured)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This pull-along wooden toy is based on Keith Haring's 'Radiant Baby'. Creating accessible public art was important to Haring, who was influenced by graffiti artists and began his career in New York’s subway stations. Here he would fill empty poster spaces with chalk drawings. Between 1980 and 1985 he produced hundreds of subway drawings, sometimes making up to 40 a day. The symbol of the baby became Haring’s tag whilst he was working as a subway artist. According to Haring, the Radiant Baby icon represented youthful innocence, purity, goodness, and potential. He described the image of the baby in 1986 as 'the purest and most positive experience of human existence."

The toy was manufactured by Vilac, a toy company founded in Grenoble in 1911. Vilac specialise in wooden toys, which were originally crafted from beech trees from the mountains of Jura, with many of their toys still made in this area.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleRadiant Baby (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Wood, string
Brief description
'Radiant Baby' red and black wooden pull toy by Keith Haring and Vilac
Physical description
Wooden pull-along toy of Keith Haring's 'Radiant Baby', with a the a baby crouching on a red base with black wheels. Red string is attached to the front.
Dimensions
  • Weight: 0.45kg (nifill)
  • Height: 150mm
  • Depth: 125mm
Summary
This pull-along wooden toy is based on Keith Haring's 'Radiant Baby'. Creating accessible public art was important to Haring, who was influenced by graffiti artists and began his career in New York’s subway stations. Here he would fill empty poster spaces with chalk drawings. Between 1980 and 1985 he produced hundreds of subway drawings, sometimes making up to 40 a day. The symbol of the baby became Haring’s tag whilst he was working as a subway artist. According to Haring, the Radiant Baby icon represented youthful innocence, purity, goodness, and potential. He described the image of the baby in 1986 as 'the purest and most positive experience of human existence."

The toy was manufactured by Vilac, a toy company founded in Grenoble in 1911. Vilac specialise in wooden toys, which were originally crafted from beech trees from the mountains of Jura, with many of their toys still made in this area.
Collection
Accession number
B.39-2022

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Record createdApril 15, 2021
Record URL
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