Balancing Toy thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at Young V&A
Play Gallery, Sound it Out, case 4

Balancing Toy

1985-1987 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Fisherman Balancing Toy, Rocking Bird are two “adult toys”, made in 1987/8, show Tony Mann’s love of Mexican and Japanese toys with his use of bright colours and preference for a rough finish. The fisherman sways precariously on his “river bank” when touched, while the comical bird attempts to catch the “fly” when his body is rocked to and fro.

Tony Mann was voted “Toymaker of the Year” by the British Toymakers’ Guild for both 1987 and 1988. He originally trained as an industrial designer and worked in this field for twenty years in both this country and Canada, (where he emigrated in 1962.) He later set up degree courses at the College of Art and Design in Nova Scotia where he still teaches one term a year. The rest of the year is devoted to toymaking, and , when in England, he is based at Chulmleigh, Devon.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Carved and painted wood
Brief description
Painted wooden figure of a fisherman made in England by Tony Mann in the 1980s
Physical description
Flat wooden torso of a fisherman in orange sou'wester and jacket with painted facial features. In his outstretched arms he holds a curved fishing rod of copper wire which bends downwards and extends to the mouth of a flat wooden fish.
Dimensions
  • Height: 21.4cm
Summary
Fisherman Balancing Toy, Rocking Bird are two “adult toys”, made in 1987/8, show Tony Mann’s love of Mexican and Japanese toys with his use of bright colours and preference for a rough finish. The fisherman sways precariously on his “river bank” when touched, while the comical bird attempts to catch the “fly” when his body is rocked to and fro.

Tony Mann was voted “Toymaker of the Year” by the British Toymakers’ Guild for both 1987 and 1988. He originally trained as an industrial designer and worked in this field for twenty years in both this country and Canada, (where he emigrated in 1962.) He later set up degree courses at the College of Art and Design in Nova Scotia where he still teaches one term a year. The rest of the year is devoted to toymaking, and , when in England, he is based at Chulmleigh, Devon.
Collection
Accession number
MISC.26-1988

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Record createdDecember 2, 2003
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