The Art of Play: Dismal Desmond, 1926

Dismal Desmond
England, 1926
The Victoria & Albert Museum

By the 1920’s as the world was trying to recover from the Great War and as economic and social troubles began to threaten the stability of many major world powers, people’s sense of what’s cute and/or attractive began to change.

As all of the arts became increasingly abstract and stylized, so did children’s toys. Our friend, “Dismal Desmond” (as he was named by his maker) is evidence of that. Desmond was produced in England in 1926 by Dean's Rag Book Company. He is, essentially, stuffed, printed cotton. And, he is cute in a “dismal” kind of way. While most children before the Great War would have rejected Desmond for being rather on the morose side, in the 1920’s, he was the perfect companion.