Main entry:

Carrara, Arthur A. (Arthur Alfonso), 1914-1995.

Title & Author:

Magnet Master. Set no. 900 : a new creative toy / designed by Carrara ; sponsored by Walker Art Center.

Publication:

Description:

1 construction set (various pieces) : painted metal ; in box 52 x 27 x 6 cm + 2 sheets

Notes:
"The Alnico magnets are manufactured by the Indiana Steel Products Corporation which collaborated with Mr. Carrara in the development of Magnet Master"--Related Ephemera (c. 1)
"Over 100 colored pieces."
Accompanied by: Parts and price list (1 folded sheet ([4] p.) : ill.; 22 cm.), and information sheet (ill.; 28 x 79 cm. folded to 28 x 22 cm.).
Library copy: set consists of 129 components: 1 Parts and Price List; 4 yellow painted metal rectangles with holes at end, 2.5 x 20.2 cm., with off-white versos; 6 red painted metal rectangles, slotted, 2.5 x 20.2 cm. with grey-green versos; 6 unpainted thin metal rods, 2 x 25.3 cm. long, 1 x 20.2 cm. long, 1 x 6.3 cm. long, 2 x 3.8 cm. long; 8 painted metal discs, 5.1 cm. diam., 4 blue with black versos, 4 orange with green versos; 7 painted metal rectangles, 5 x 10.1 cm., 3 yellow with off-white versos, 4 red with grey-green versos; 8 painted metal squares, 5 x 5 cm., 4 orange with green versos, 4 red with grey-green versos; 7 small painted metal discs, 2.5 cm., 3 yellow with off-white versos, 1 orange with green verso; 1 blue with black verso, 2 red with grey-green versos; 3 small green painted magnets; 8 yellow painted metal bars with holes, 6 bars 2.5 x 10.1 cm., 2 bars 2.5 x 5.1 cm. with off-white versos; 7 painted metal triangles, 4.9 cm. per side, 4 orange with green versos, 3 blue with black versos; 2 red painted metal narrow bars with grey-green versos; 2 red painted metal narrow bars with 3 painted metal cross pieces with grey-green versos; 14 metal Xs, 5 yellow with off-white versos, 9 blue with black versos; 2 sealed red cellophane packages containing toothpicks and elastics; 6 small painted round magnets of various colours; 12 small blue painted magnets; 25 small yellow painted magnets; 1 large blue painted metal plate, 15 x 25.1 cm. with black verso.
Library c. 1: wanting original box; wanting some pieces; information sheet received separately.
Library c. 2: never constructed; accompanied by: 1 promotional leaflet and 1 sheet (typescript) with caption "Magnet Master Specifications, Discount and Shipping Data", both received separately.
In Related Ephemera: article entitled Magnet Master reprinted from Everyday art quarterly, no. 8, summer 1948 (1 folded sheet ([4] p.) : ill. ; 28 cm.); also, 1 sheet with ill. of toy (28 x 22 cm.) (from c. 1).

Exhibitions:

Exhibited: "Les jouets et la tradition moderniste = Toys and the modernist tradition", Centre canadien d'architecture, Dec. 15, 1993-May 1, 1994.
Exhibited: "Toying with architecture: the building toy in the arena of play, 1800 to the present", Katonah Museum of Art., Sept. 28, 1997-Jan. 4, 1998.
Library c. 1: Exhibited: "Century of the child : growing by design 1900-2000", Museum of Modern Art, July 24-Nov. 5, 2012.
Exhibited: "Les jouets et la tradition moderniste = Toys and the modernist tradition", Centre canadien d'architecture, Dec. 15, 1993-May 1, 1994.
Exhibited: "Toying with architecture: the building toy in the arena of play, 1800 to the present", Katonah Museum of Art., Sept. 28, 1997-Jan. 4, 1998.
Library c. 1: : exhibited: "Century of the child : growing by design 1900-2000", Museum of Modern Art, July 24-Nov. 5, 2012

Summary:

Magnet Master was designed by architect Arthur Carrara, who had been a student of Moholy-Nagy at the New Bauhaus in Chicago; it was developed by Carrara and his two brothers Reno and Alfonso in collaboration with the Indiana Steel Products Corporation. In 1948 the three brothers conducted a highly successful Magnet Master workshop at the Walker Art Center involving about 3000 children. First presented in the Summer 1948 issue of the Walker Art Center's "Everyday Art Quarterly", the toy was described in a later issue (Winter-Spring 1949) as not only "an exciting and rewarding playtime device for children of all ages", but also as having been proven an ideal design tool based on sessions with art students from 20 to 30 years of age
The designer first encountered the Alnico (Aluminum-Nickel-Cobalt) magnets during World War II in Japan, where they were being produced and used for the first time. In "A Flexagon of Structure and Design" (Milwaukee, 1960) he indicates the origins of the toy: "Magnet Master grew out of my experiments with the new found magnetic and electromagnetic metals. Every idea of man is first employed as a toy or in a toy". He mentions that the toy was "expanded as an architectural concept" for the first time in a design for the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial
The set comprises coloured metal pieces in basic geometric shapes (circles, triangles, squares, rectangles) with magnets of various sizes to hold them together. While it was sold complete, the suggestion was made that it could be "extended infinitely" by the addition of other materials which could be penetrated by the magnetic flux: nails, wire, paper, etc.
The manufacture of the toy was executed by a number of participants: Indiana Steel Products produced the magnets, various steel companies manufactured the other metal parts, a box company turned out the containers, plant assembly was carried out in Chicago.

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Subject:

Carrara, Arthur A. (Arthur Alfonso), 1914-1995.
Magnet Master (Toy)
Metal toys United States Specimens.
Jouets en métal États-Unis Spécimens.
Metal toys.
United States.
Metal Toys (recreational artifacts) United States 1940-1950.
Magnetic Toys (recreational artifacts) United States 1940-1950.
Construction toys United States 1940-1950.

Form/genre:

Magnetic assembly system toys.
Metal Toys (recreational artifacts)
Magnetic Toys (recreational artifacts)
Construction toys.
Specimens.

Added entries:

Walker Art Center.
Indiana Steel Products Corporation.
Everyday art quarterly.

Holdings:

Location: Library main jouets et jeux 199711
Call No.: TS2301.T7.M4 I53 1948
Copy: c. 2
Status: Available

Location: Library main jouets et jeux 199712
Call No.: TS2301.T7.M4 I53 1948
Copy: c. 1
Status: Available