100 Objects from Century of the Child

Karel Appel. Front cover from Frie Kunstnere, Volume 3 by Christian Dotremont. 1950

Van Eyck was closely associated with CoBrA, an international avant-garde group that drew inspiration from children’s drawings and the idea of play as a creative and cultural force. (The group’s name derived from the first letters of the members’ home cities of Copenhagen, Brussels, and Amsterdam.) Van Eyck’s playful design for the installation of the first CoBrA exhibition, held in 1949, broke with conventional display techniques and adopted a child’s perspective in the display of drawings and prints on low rectangular blocks. CoBrA’s magazine, Frie Kunstnere, featured many artworks both inspired by and produced by children.

Learn more at MoMA.org/centuryofthechild