My Teddy Bear

The exhibition begins by recounting the eventful history of bears and human beings, from the first cohabitation in prehistoric caves to the bear handlers whose actions threatened the survival of the species. It continues with a look at the ancient ursine cults and their destruction by the Catholic Church, reducing the ancient pagan idol into a voracious, lazy, even demonic, animal.

The four hundred teddy bears from the museum’s collections tell the story of the birth of this toy in 1920 in Germany and the United States, as well as its transformations and successes. Since the first models made from mohair and wooden straw, which were heavy and rigid, the teddy bear has become more flexible and softer. He now comes in bright or pastel colours, making him the ideal cuddly toy. He reigns over an entire menagerie of stuffed animals, as well as works of children’s fiction, thanks to figures like Winnie the Pooh, Mishka the Bear, and Paddington.

Nowadays, while children abandon their toys at a younger and younger age, teddy bears have retained their allure thanks to this symbolic charge, the artists inspired by them, and the adults who keep them into adulthood. Staying close to one’s childhood companions is no longer a sign of immaturity but allows one to cultivate the part of childhood that lies within us all, giving voice to our spontaneity and creativity.

Far from the ferocious demigod that he once was, the bear has become— particularly in its polar version—the symbol of climate change and nature under threat. The various actions carried out to save the species, and the debates generated, show that the bear has never been, and never will be, an animal like any other.

Theodore Roosevelt and the American Legend

In November 1902, Theodore Roosevelt, the very popular President of the United States and a fervent advocate for nature conservation, was invited to a bear hunt by the Governor of Mississippi. To ensure he would not return empty-handed after a long day of tracking, the organizers captured a bear, tied it to a tree, and offered Roosevelt the chance to shoot it. He categorically refused to shoot a defenseless animal. This unusual story was picked up by the newspapers, notably through a cartoon by Clifford Kennedy Berryman, titled “Drawing the Line in Mississippi,” which also referred to the drawing of the boundary between Louisiana and Mississippi, arbitrated by Roosevelt.

The bear thus becomes an unofficial mascot of Roosevelt and the hero of many of Berryman’s cartoons depicting episodes from the president’s life. (…) Rose and Morris Michtom, owners of a candy store in Brooklyn, inspired by the press, create a stuffed fabric toy which they send to Roosevelt and then sell, with his permission, under the name Teddy’s Bear, a common nickname for Theodore.

The teddy bear, of which no examples are known today, became very popular and was featured in Playthings, the toy industry magazine, in 1906, officially named the teddy bear. The following year, the Michtoms partnered with the wholesalers Butler Brothers to create the toy brand Ideal Novelty and Toy Company, which manufactured and marketed mohair teddy bears.

She begins to commercialize them, selling eight in 1880, eighteen in 1881, and eleven in 1882. A modest production is set in motion, and by 1883, a price list from the “Filz-Versandt-Geschäfts von Gretchen Steiff” (Gretchen Steiff’s mail-order business for felt items – Gretchen being a diminutive of Margarete – Steiff) mentions children’s toys, sturdy and safe, including colorful-covered elephants (…) Fritz Steiff’s son, Richard, joins the company in 1897 after studying at the Stuttgart School of Decorative Arts.

An inventor at heart, he wants to help Steiff innovate. He attempts to articulate the animals. Was he inspired by the dolls, the production of which was booming in Germany at the time, and which Steiff also sold a few models of? Regardless, he focuses on animals whose movements can resemble those of humans – the bear and the monkey – revisiting sketches he made during his visits to the zoo while studying, to refine the posture and expression of his prototypes. This is how, at the end of 1902, the first mohair animals are born, stuffed with wood wool and articulated with strings connecting the limbs to the body: the Aff 60 PB monkey, and especially the first teddy bear.

The Steiff Saga

In the same year, 1902, the German toy brand Steiff launched a revolutionary novelty: a mohair bear with articulated limbs. The company was born from a sewing workshop created in 1877 in Giengen an der Brenz by Margarete Steiff, a young woman paralyzed by polio contracted in her childhood. Possessing a strong character, Margarete strove to conquer, despite her disability, autonomy and independence. She set up a felt-working workshop at her parents’ house, which was equipped with the first sewing machine in the town.

In 1880, the young woman was inspired by a pattern published in the December 1879 issue of Die Modenwelt to create a small felt elephant. Originally intended as pincushions for needles and pins, the elephants that Margarete Steiff made for her family were greatly appreciated by children, who quickly turned them into toys.