Wednesday, February 15, 2012

froebel fascination

Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman, Abrahms, 1997
My new book arrived: !!! This is Inventing Kindergarten by Norman Brosterman, about Friederich Froebel (1782-1852), the inventor of kindergarten. I'm reading it cover to cover and it is ridiculously fascinating. The program taught spiritual unity demonstrated through principles of art, mathematics, design, and natural science. You can see how the seeds of what was to become Modernism were planted in original kindergarten students like a wee Frank Lloyd Wright. Traces of the original kindergarten remain in public education today, but we all know how that ended up.For more information/ inspiration, see:










If you live in the NY area, more is coming your way: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1239

Wow, one more:

Vasily Kandinsky’s Composition 8 from 1923, recreated with kindergarten gifts number 7 (paper parquetry), 8 (sticks), 9 (rings), 14 (weaving), 15 (slats), and 16 (jointed slats).

2 comments:

Yukako said...

5th photo with origami pieces: I used to make those when I was a kid. Sometimes they were called, coasters. There is a way to put them ("lock them") together to make a big one. I used 2 color (front and back) papers, or put 2 origami together to make 2 color piece. Quite lovely :-)

What a book! (of the beginning of kindergarten) I'm very interested in seeing it. Moma show looks great too. Thanks for sharing!

shannon m. said...

What was kindergarten like in Japan? I would love to know. I read early on this kindergarten was accepted in Japan too. (p.s. I forgot one more link! Updated, scroll to bottom.) :-)