Cuckoo clock in culture

The cuckoo clock, more than any other kind of timepiece, has often featured in literature, music, cinema, television, etc., in the Western culture, as a metaphor or allegory of innocence, childhood, old age, past, fun, mental disorder, etc.

It has apparently been viewed more as a symbol or a toy – a folksy musical apparatus with animated figures – fascinating and a bit mysterious rather than as a serious timekeeper.

Another example in popular music is Fernando Olvera, the vocalist and leader of the Mexican pop-rock band Maná, who composed one of their most popular and emotive songs "El reloj cucú" (The Cuckoo Clock), from their album Cuando los Ángeles Lloran (1995), nominated for a 1996 Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Performance.

In the art of sculpture one of the foremost origami artists, Robert J. Lang made in 1987 a work called "Black Forest cuckoo clock" (opus 182).

[22] Likewise, exist two pieces titled "Cuckoo Clock", the first one was cast in bronze in 1991 by the Hungarian sculptor Armand Gilanyi[23] and the second one in Styrofoam and acrylic paint by the American artist Bill Davenport (2005).

[24] On the other hand, the German Stefan Strumbel has been producing since 2005 an unconventional reinterpretation of the traditional c. clock, transforming them with the addition of elements of urban and pop art and painting them with spray using fluorescent and loud colours.

[25] With regard to this art, it has been depicted in paintings like; "The Fiddler" (1932),[26] an oil on canvas by the Irish painter Leo Whelan, "Old Samovar and Cuckoo Clock" (1997), a cubist watercolor by the Russian Boris Smirnoff and "The Cuckoo Clock" (2007), oil on canvas painted by the American artist Ann Elizabeth Schlegel.

In the field of graphic arts, in addition to the illustrators already quoted in the Literature section, it is worth to be mentioned a cuckoo clock plate of the British artist Walter Crane for Mrs. Molesworth's book "The Cuckoo Clock", as well as the pictures created by different illustrators for the various editions of the novel, such as; Charles Copeland (1895), Maria L. Kirk (1914), Florence White Williams (1927), C. E. Brock (1931) and E. H. Shepard for the 1954 edition.

Examples include: In the drama in two acts Ganksklukka (The Cuckoo Clock) (1962), by the Icelandic dramatist, writer and poet Agnar Thórdarson, the author presents a powerful play on the dehumanizing effect of modern life.

The British comedy Dave Allen at Large has a sketch taking place in the American West, in which an outlaw loads his revolver and heads for a saloon just before noon, against the pleas and begging of his woman not to go through with it.