The immense popularity of the teddy bear, now present in every child's bedroom, hides a paradox: how did this ferocious and wild animal become the symbol of childhood?

The teddy bear was born at the same time in two different places. In 1902, the toy was invented in the United States in reference to Theodore Roosevelt - hence its Anglo-Saxon name, Teddy's bear, which became teddy-bear. In Germany, that same year, Margarete Steiff marketed her first teddy bear, created from needle cushions, which enjoyed resounding success in Europe and America. Since the first examples made of mohair and wood straw, heavy and rigid, the teddy bear has softened and softened. It was adorned with bright or pastel colors, so that it could be transformed into a comforter, a transitional object studied and theorized by pediatrician Donald Winnicott. The bear now reigns supreme over a whole menagerie of stuffed animals, but also over children's fiction, thanks to Winnie the Pooh, The Bear, and Paddington. More surprisingly, it is also prized by fashion designers, who do not hesitate to revisit it.

Today, the bear, through the figures of the panda and the polar bear, is the symbol of climate change and an endangered nature. Through five essays and three thematic notebooks, this catalog traces the history of the teddy bear, from its first steps to its transformations and successes. It also questions our relationship with bears since Antiquity. Finally, it draws on a rich iconography that offers a wide range of old and more recent teddy bears, alongside human representations of bears over the centuries.

Chapters of the book:
The European Bear: The Story of a Revered and Then Cursed Animal
The Bear in Prehistory, From Animal to Symbol
The Birth of the Teddy Bear
Paper Bear
From Bear to Cuddly Toy
The Bear, an Amusing Fetish of Fashion Designers
The Bear Today
Bear Festival in Vallespir (Pyrénées-Orientales)

Published on the occasion of the 2024/25 exhibition at the Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris