What If?

What If?

Helen and Henry Tanous

Pictures by J.P. Miller 1951

A nice little showcase of some Disney artists from the 1950's.  J.P. Miller's work has shown up often in Little Golden Books including one of my favorites, "Doctor Squash".  

Pencils, Pens and Brushes

Pencils, Pens and Brushes

Mindy Johnson

illustrated by Lorelay Bove

My husband LOVES Disney World.  While it's not my top choice to travel to, I've always enjoyed our vacations there.   (Mostly because my husband does all the planning and I'm just along for the ride.)   Being a detail oriented person, I do appreciate the intentional attention to detail that Disney employs in even the smallest ways.  For example, artists had to create a fake rust color and texture to coat the walls of one of the rides and sections of the park.  And I noticed how the entrance to Galaxy's Edge (the Star Wars portion) was designed in such a way to join the rest of the park via a tunnel angled to create a slow reveal.  Say what you will about the consumerism and inauthenticity, there are some amazing creative minds at work in that place!

 Aside from liking amusement park rides, I'm always on the lookout for artwork that I like.  (Hello Mary Blair!).  After seeing the incredible Cirque Du Soleil show at Disney Springs, I spotted this book in the gift shop.  It's biographical snippets of some of the creative women that have worked for Disney in the past.  Mary Blair was there of course, and I had forgotten that Gyo Fujikawa had also done a stint at Disney.  And lately I've really liked learning about Milicent Patrick.  She created the Creature from the Black Lagoon.     

This book covers not just illustrators, but the women who were writers, paint chemists, or modeled for characters and movements.  At the time these women were embarking on careers outside of what was expected for women.  It's no surprise that many of them were adventurous in other aspects of their life- like becoming pilots or serving during WWII.   I would have liked to have seen more photographs and samples of their own work, but I like Lorelay Bove's illustration style.

The Art and Flair of Mary Blair

Having just returned from a trip to Disney World, I was prompted to pull out our book of Mary Blair.  I have always loved her artwork and part of the appeal of Disney World is to see her influence there.  (All throughout our trip Madeleine and I would point out to each other the evidence of Mary Blair).  In a time and field dominated by men she held an influential position at Disney Studios and is responsible for the look and aesthetic of many of the "golden era" Disney films.  She married a fellow artist and had a family all while honing her craft and creating that mid century look and style.  If you are ever in Disney World, check out her enormous mural in the lobby of the Contemporary resort, and of course ride "It's a Small World"- her creation for the 1964 World's Fair.  (I know people joke about hating this ride, but seriously, the design is mid-century gloriousness!).

The Art and Flair of Mary Blair

John Canemaker 2014

Contemporary animation art director Fred Cline wrote this about Blair...

juxtaposition of neutralized and intense colors.  Lots of artist make everything really bright or really mute.  She mixed both with a graphic sense without hardness.  Her shapes are very organic but graphic.  It's different.  You know you're looking at something only Mary Blair did.

Blair's sensual spheroid, biological, abstract forms communicate solace, comfort, joy, and pleasure to the viewer.  Combined with Walt Disney's paean to the nation's heritage and values, her art became a reassuring expression of faith in, and hope for, America's future.  

By 1948, Disney decided to reenter the feature-length animated cartoon arena.  Cinderella, followed by Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, released between 1950 and 1953, bear Mary Blair's artistic imprint in varying degrees.  The last animated features she worked on, these three films represent a renaissance of the form and the beginning of a period of unprecedented growth and success for the Disney studio. 

Blaire's dynamic interaction of colors- the way foreground and aground hues affect spatial perception, the multiple readings available from a single color depending on what color surrounds it- intuitively put into play theories of painter Josef Albers.  

On being asked to design It's a Small World...

"I think it hit her at the right time.  It was a powerful package for her," says Crump.  "It was about children, the freedom of color, and that Walt asked her to do it.  Like she'd died and gone to heaven.  Small World had to be the crescendo for her because I've never seen anything as powerful in her work.  She just whipped this stuff out."

Designing children from around the globe and their environments, Blair made dozens of intricately detailed collages.  Her assemblages used wallpaper cuttings, cellophane (for a transparent effect) and acrylics, ingeniously combined in interlocking geometric and organic shapes.  These dazzling constructions- breathtaking in their whimsical vitality and variety- contain her purest color combinations yet.  

Snow White (Disney Version)

Fresh off our trip to Disney World I pulled out these books of the Disney version of Snow White.  Gustaf Tenggren was an incredible artist who worked for Walt Disney in the 1930's.  His style was Arthur Rackham-ish and he illustrated a Swedish collection of children's tales in the footsteps of John Bauer.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

retold by Cynthia Rylant 2009

pictures by Gustaf Tenggren

 Whether you are a Disney lover or not, the artistic quality of that first animated movie just can't be denied.  Here's a nice journey through how the movie was made in 1938.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the Making of the Classic Film

Richard Hollis and Brian Sibley 1994

Lingering on our shelves was this hardback Disney's Book Club edition.  I don't know why but the illustrator is not mentioned.  This is too bad because it's obviously the spectacular Sheilah Beckett.  Her pictures have a wonderfully distinctive style.  Our collection of her books is always growing.

Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

illustrated by Sheilah Beckett

Here's a couple shots of the Seven Dwarfs Mine ride at Disney World.  I was pretty enamored with the lanterns!