Just so you know: “Once Upon a Time — Walt Disney — The Sources of Inspiration for Disney Studios” will be completing its run at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts on June 24th.
And since this is this acclaimed exhibition’s one & only stop in North America … Once June 25th arrives, all of this incredible art from Disney’s Animation Research Library will be sent back home to Burbank & Glendale. Where it will then be tucked away in some climate-controled drawer. Only to be viewed by the company’s archivists & a few lucky employees who are working on special projects.
What’s that you say? You’re a serious animation fan and you’re not planning on traveling to Canada over the next six weeks? More importantly, you didn’t get the chance to see this very same exhibit when it was first presented last year at the Grand Palais in Paris? And you don’t know how you’re going to live with yourself if you miss out on this once-in-a-lifetime animation art exhibition?
Well … I suppose you could pick up a copy of the exhibit’s catalog?
Copyright 2007 Prestel Publication / Disney Enterprises, LLC
Mind you, this 353-page hardcover is pricey (Even with a 37% discount, Amazon.com still charges $47.25 for a brand-new copy of this Prestel Publication). Not to mention being big and heavy. So plan on the “Once Upon a Time — Walt Disney — The Sources of Inspiration for Disney Studios” catalog first putting a large hole in your wallet before it then starts taking up far too much space on your book shelf.
But — that said — this gorgeous catalog (Which was edited by Bruno Girveau, the Chief Curator of both the Paris & Montreal exhibit) features hundreds of photographs, preliminary sketches and full-blown concept paintings. Not to mention images of many classical pieces of art that Walt and his animators supposedly drew inspiration from.
Now, Girveau’s main purpose in staging this exhibition was to prove that Disney & his artists didn’t work in a vacuum. That they studied the old masters and then “borrowed” various bits of staging and used color, light and shadow from these paintings to make the studio’s shorts and animated features seem that much richer.
To be honest (Based on this catalog alone, mind you), Bruno sometimes over-reaches as he attempts to prove the central thesis for his “Once Upon a Time — Walt Disney — The Sources of Inspiration for Disney Studios” exhibition. Girveau often sees artistic parallels & patterns where (to be perfectly blunt here) there are none.
But even so, I can’t fault the man’s eye. For — in this exhibit — Bruno did manage to showcase some truly hidden Disney gems. I mean, how many times do you get to see a sketch of Snow White as she would have appeared on her wedding day (I.E. The finale that Disney had originally proposed for his studio’s first full-length animated feature) ? Dressed not as a servant girl, but as a really-for-real princess?
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And speaking of servant girls … Check out this early Mary Blair concept painting for Cinderella. Back when Walt saw that film’s title character not as a nearly-full-grown 18-year-old woman. But — rather — as a sweet little 16-year-old girl.
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In addition to highlighting what he views as Disney’s European-based inspirations, Girveau also goes out of his way to illustrate the studio’s developmental process. Starting (in the case of “Bambi“) with the artists closely observing the animal that they’ve been assigned to draw.
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Working from what they’d been able to pull out of that modeling session with the live deer, those animators were then encouraged to work up their own interpretation for this woodland creature. To see how a deer might lend itself to first being drawn and then being animated.
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In some cases, the artists would then go on to create three dimensional sculptures of their assigned character. So that they could then get a better sense of what their animation subject might look like from different angles.
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So through the pieces that he selected for his “Once Upon A Time — Walt Disney — The Sources of Inspiration for Disney Studios” exhibit, Bruno significantly deepens one’s understanding of how the Mouse House’s animated features ultimately come together. Or — in the case of Walt’s long-ago-aborted-but-recently-resurrected-and-completed collaboration with Salvador Dali, “Destino” — how sometimes promising-sounding projects suddenly fall apart.
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Me personally, what I felt were one of the real highlights of this catalog were the appendices at the back of the book. Which featured brief biographical sketches of such Disney Legends as Marc Davis, Woolie Reitherman and Bill Peet (Who is pictured below working on the storyboards for his version of Rudyard Kipling‘s “The Jungle Book.” Which Walt eventually abandoned in favor of a much more light-hearted, much less faithful adaptation of this novel).
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So there you have it. Owning a copy of “Once Upon a Time — Walt Disney — The Sources of Inspiration for Disney Studios” is almost as good as taking a trip up to Canada to see this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition in person. Almost.
Though — that said — the more I leaf through this handsome hardcover, the more I think that Nancy and I really have to get up to Montreal before June 24th. So that we can then see all of this great animation art in person before it disappears back into Disney’s ARL.
So — obviously — we’re talking about a pretty extraordinary animation art catalog here. Which you may want to check out.
Your thoughts?